An Monday, the bazaars in many large and also smaller cities in Iran remained largely closed despite the threat of penalties. The dealers followed a call by the protest movement for a three-day general strike. The occasion is the anniversary of the bloody suppression of student protests on December 7, 1953. On that day, soldiers of the Shah’s regime shot dead three students who had protested against the visit of then American Vice President Richard Nixon.
In August 1953, the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and enabled the Shah’s return. In Tehran, shopkeepers chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic. Shops that were announced to be closed were partially sealed. Strikes in the petrochemical and gas industries, as well as among truck drivers, have been joined by another form of economic protest: to weaken banks, calls have been made for a temporary suspension of money transfers.
The day after the announcement that the vice squad had been abolished, there was skepticism about the significance of the move. Because of the massive disregard for dress codes by women, the moral police had lost relevance in recent weeks. The abolition does not change anything about the unchanged existing clothing regulations, it said on social media. Shops were therefore closed in Tehran and other cities on Monday because women did not wear a headscarf. For this reason, the manager of a shopping center was arrested.
Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad-Jafar Montaseri announced on Sunday that the police unit tasked with prosecuting women for violating dress codes in 2007 had been disbanded. The law, which punishes these violations with up to two months in prison and up to 74 lashes, came into force in 1983.
The judiciary is taking targeted action against Iranian musicians. So far, more than forty musicians have been summoned or arrested. They are accused of producing protest songs and video clips in hidden recording studios. Apparently Toomaj Salehi, a rapper from Isfahan, is severely tortured in prison. One of the most prominent fight songs of the moment comes from Mojgan Shajarian, daughter of the late legendary musician Mohammad-Reza Shajarian. According to Iranian human rights groups, 471 people were killed and more than 18,000 arrested in the first 79 days of the protests.