Maandamano makubwa yalizuka kote Iran huku serikali ikikata huduma ya intaneti karibu nchi nzima, kulingana na makundi ya ufuatiliaji. Hatua hiyo ilikuja wakati wananchi wakipaza sauti wakidai uhuru na kuondoka kwa utawala wa Kiislamu, licha ya onyo kali kutoka kwa viongozi wa vyombo vya usalama na mahakama waliotishia kuchukua hatua kali dhidi ya waandamanaji.
Mashuhuda walisema umati mkubwa ulijitokeza katika miji mbalimbali ikiwemo Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan na Bushehr, ukiwahusisha wanaume na wanawake wa rika zote. Kauli mbiu kama “Uhuru, uhuru” na “Kifo kwa Khamenei” zilisikika, huku maandamano yakienea hadi maeneo ambayo awali hayakushiriki. Baadhi ya waandamanaji waliomba majina yao yasitajwe kwa hofu ya kulipiziwa kisasi.
Kadiri maandamano yalivyozidi kuongezeka, video zilionesha majengo ya serikali na magari yakichomwa moto, huku vurugu zikizuka usiku katika baadhi ya maeneo ya Tehran. Katika mji wa Karaj, video zilionesha waandamanaji wakikimbia baada ya kusikika kwa milio ya risasi, ingawa haikufahamika wazi nani alifyatua risasi hizo.
Takwimu za ufuatiliaji wa mtandao zilionesha kuporomoka kwa kasi kwa muunganisho wa intaneti, hali iliyoifanya Iran kuwa karibu nje ya mtandao kabisa. Wachambuzi wa haki za binadamu walisema serikali hutumia kukata intaneti kama chombo cha kuzuia mawasiliano ya waandamanaji na ulimwengu wa nje wakati wa migogoro mikubwa.
Maandamano haya mapya, yaliyochochewa na wito wa makundi ya upinzani na Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi aliye uhamishoni, yanaongeza shinikizo kwa serikali na Kiongozi Mkuu Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mashirika ya haki za binadamu yameripoti vifo vya waandamanaji zaidi ya 40 na mamia kukamatwa, huku masoko na mabaa kadhaa yakifungwa kama ishara ya mgomo dhidi ya hali mbaya ya uchumi.
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As protests swelled around the country, Iran’s internet was shut down, and the heads of its judiciary and its security services warned of a harsh response amid calls for “freedom, freedom.”
Iran plunged into an internet blackout on Thursday, monitoring groups said, as nationwide protests demanding the ouster of the Islamic government spread to multiple cities and grew in size, according to witnesses.
The internet shutdown came a day after the heads of Iran’s judiciary and its security services said they would take tough measures against anyone protesting. But the threats did not deter demonstrators.
In telephone interviews, more than a dozen witnesses said that they saw large crowds forming on Thursday night in neighborhoods across Tehran, the capital, and in cities around Iran, including Mashhad, Bushehr, Shiraz and Isfahan. They said the crowds were diverse, with men and women, young and old. The people interviewed inside Iran asked that their names not be published out of fear of retribution.
One resident of Tehran said that the crowds were chanting, “Death to Khamenei,” referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and “freedom, freedom.” The chants could be heard from several blocks away in the affluent neighborhood of Shahrak Gharb in Tehran, which had until now sat out the protests.
Videos filmed on Thursday night showed government buildings on fire across the country, including in Tehran, as protests grew. While the protests were mostly peaceful early in the evening, violence broke out later in the night in Tehran, with demonstrators setting fire to cars, buildings and items in the street. A video verified by The New York Times shows fires in the streets of Kaj Square in the capital, with thousands of protesters flooding the area.
In Karaj, a suburb west of Tehran, a video verified by The Times showed protesters fleeing after gunshots were fired, though it is unclear from the videos whether it was security forces firing.
As the protests grew, internet connectivity data showed an abrupt and near-total drop in connection levels in Iran on Thursday afternoon, according to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Outage Detection and Analysis database. The data indicates that the country is almost completely offline
Source: The new york times & AP news
Mashuhuda walisema umati mkubwa ulijitokeza katika miji mbalimbali ikiwemo Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan na Bushehr, ukiwahusisha wanaume na wanawake wa rika zote. Kauli mbiu kama “Uhuru, uhuru” na “Kifo kwa Khamenei” zilisikika, huku maandamano yakienea hadi maeneo ambayo awali hayakushiriki. Baadhi ya waandamanaji waliomba majina yao yasitajwe kwa hofu ya kulipiziwa kisasi.
Kadiri maandamano yalivyozidi kuongezeka, video zilionesha majengo ya serikali na magari yakichomwa moto, huku vurugu zikizuka usiku katika baadhi ya maeneo ya Tehran. Katika mji wa Karaj, video zilionesha waandamanaji wakikimbia baada ya kusikika kwa milio ya risasi, ingawa haikufahamika wazi nani alifyatua risasi hizo.
Takwimu za ufuatiliaji wa mtandao zilionesha kuporomoka kwa kasi kwa muunganisho wa intaneti, hali iliyoifanya Iran kuwa karibu nje ya mtandao kabisa. Wachambuzi wa haki za binadamu walisema serikali hutumia kukata intaneti kama chombo cha kuzuia mawasiliano ya waandamanaji na ulimwengu wa nje wakati wa migogoro mikubwa.
Maandamano haya mapya, yaliyochochewa na wito wa makundi ya upinzani na Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi aliye uhamishoni, yanaongeza shinikizo kwa serikali na Kiongozi Mkuu Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mashirika ya haki za binadamu yameripoti vifo vya waandamanaji zaidi ya 40 na mamia kukamatwa, huku masoko na mabaa kadhaa yakifungwa kama ishara ya mgomo dhidi ya hali mbaya ya uchumi.
As protests swelled around the country, Iran’s internet was shut down, and the heads of its judiciary and its security services warned of a harsh response amid calls for “freedom, freedom.”
Iran plunged into an internet blackout on Thursday, monitoring groups said, as nationwide protests demanding the ouster of the Islamic government spread to multiple cities and grew in size, according to witnesses.
The internet shutdown came a day after the heads of Iran’s judiciary and its security services said they would take tough measures against anyone protesting. But the threats did not deter demonstrators.
In telephone interviews, more than a dozen witnesses said that they saw large crowds forming on Thursday night in neighborhoods across Tehran, the capital, and in cities around Iran, including Mashhad, Bushehr, Shiraz and Isfahan. They said the crowds were diverse, with men and women, young and old. The people interviewed inside Iran asked that their names not be published out of fear of retribution.
One resident of Tehran said that the crowds were chanting, “Death to Khamenei,” referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and “freedom, freedom.” The chants could be heard from several blocks away in the affluent neighborhood of Shahrak Gharb in Tehran, which had until now sat out the protests.
Videos filmed on Thursday night showed government buildings on fire across the country, including in Tehran, as protests grew. While the protests were mostly peaceful early in the evening, violence broke out later in the night in Tehran, with demonstrators setting fire to cars, buildings and items in the street. A video verified by The New York Times shows fires in the streets of Kaj Square in the capital, with thousands of protesters flooding the area.
In Karaj, a suburb west of Tehran, a video verified by The Times showed protesters fleeing after gunshots were fired, though it is unclear from the videos whether it was security forces firing.
As the protests grew, internet connectivity data showed an abrupt and near-total drop in connection levels in Iran on Thursday afternoon, according to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Outage Detection and Analysis database. The data indicates that the country is almost completely offline
Source: The new york times & AP news
