Through carnage of the government crackdown, Iranian protesters looked to Trump

Protesters who spoke to NBC News said the crowd chanted slogans such as “Long live the Shah” and “Down with Khamenei,” referring to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Similar chants can be clearly heard in videos verified by NBC News. In some cases, protesters set fire to vehicles and buildings belonging to the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The repression was devastating.

At least 6,300 people were killed, including some 200 members of the security services, according to HRANA. The group, which says it verifies each death with a network of activists on the ground in Iran and that its data is subject to “multiple internal controls”, says it is investigating 17,000 additional reported deaths.

Hope and enthusiasm

In Tehran, S., a professional in his thirties who lives and works in Western Europe, took his parents to their very first protest on the night of January 8. At home for the holidays, when people took to the streets, he said he couldn’t stand idly by.

Hope and excitement filled S’s face.’ Father in his 70s as the family walked toward the packed crowd.

Then came the tear gas, S. said, and the family ran toward a nearby building housing protesters. Security forces chased them, throwing tear gas inside a small room.

“It was one of the hardest moments where I saw my mother’s face full of tears,” S. said. “It was really scary.”

In Isfahan, P. found himself in front of a crowd of demonstrators. It was the night of Jan. 8 and people were hopeful, she said. Then about 20 to 30 motorcycles arrived, two people on each motorcycle.

“They just started shooting people directly in the face and body,” she said. As she and a friend later sheltered in the lobby of a nearby building, the injuries she saw were consistent with gunshot wounds.

“The hall was full of blood,” said P., still haunted by the image. People were doing everything they could…cleaning and dressing the wounds before returning to the streets.

P. finally returned safely to her apartment after hours. That’s when the guilt set in, she said.

“I could hear gunshot after gunshot from my apartment. And I knew with every sound I heard that someone was hurt,” P. said.

The next morning, January 9, Khamenei addressed a crowd of his supporters and called the protesters “mercenaries serving foreign powers.” P. said the message was clear and terrifying: security forces were authorized to use any means necessary to suppress protests.

Khamenei was telling security forces “you have the right to shoot them,” P. said.

Despite the obvious threat, some of the protesters NBC News spoke with took to the streets again. This time they were met with bullets and not pellets.

“They have guns, but we still came out knowing that because we said, ‘They’re not going to do that. They’re not going to use guns, real guns,'” she added.

“They were shooting everyone, everyone they could get their hands on,” said K., 73. “Women, children, men, old people, young people, it made no difference to them. »

In Tehran, protesters said they saw snipers on rooftops and machine guns mounted on the backs of pickup trucks.

“They also used heavy machine guns, the ones that have the power to destroy a building, and they use them to shoot people,” said S., the young man accompanied by his parents. “Can you imagine the result?”

Soon, images of hundreds of bodies in body bags began leaking out of the country, despite an internet shutdown and laws banning the sharing of videos related to the protests. NBC News verified videos of morgues filled with bodies and distraught families. In some cases, relatives are seen walking among the black bags, trying to identify the deceased, while moans and screams fill the background.

HRANA estimates that more than 42,000 people have been arrested since the protests began. Human rights groups including Amnesty International warn that prisoners risk being “arbitrarily executed”.

Authorities have also imposed sentences of two to five years in prison for those who send videos to the media, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier this month.

“The calm before the storm”

Three weeks after the violence, the country remained silent even as the Internet came back to life. There are no chants, no protests. People are afraid, those interviewed said, and are staying home because of the heavy security presence on the streets, with police checking cell phones for evidence that homeowners participated in the protests.

“It’s the calm before the storm,” S., a young professional who has participated in previous protests, said in a voice note from Tehran.

“People are waiting for foreign help to take to the streets again,” she said. “Every family in Iran has someone who was arrested, injured or killed. You should see the bodies in the streets at this time.”

“It’s horrible,” S. said.

Strikes promised by Trump to protect protesters never materialized, angering some.

“He incited people, pushed them to take to the streets and said he would help them,” businesswoman K. said.

Trump’s recent threats and the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships in the region have raised the hopes of others.

People like S., the young Tehran native living in Western Europe, follow the ships’ route.

“We did our part,” he said. People “were against the bullets, so without any international intervention, I don’t think anyone else would do it again because it’s suicide.”