{"id":235608,"date":"2021-02-28T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T15:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=235608"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:10:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:10:15","slug":"errors-of-western-policy-persists-amidst-latest-protests-and-crackdowns-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/errors-of-western-policy-persists-amidst-latest-protests-and-crackdowns-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Errors of Western Policy Persists Amidst Latest Protests and Crackdowns in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"November_protests1_05102020\"
November 2019 protests in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past week, a protest movement<\/a> expanded to encompass much of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, following a clash on Monday between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>) and fuel porters in that region. Demonstrations of solidarity were also recorded in several major cities throughout Iran, with many participants using the opportunity to condemn the entire clerical regime and call for a regime change.<\/p>\n

This series of incidents signal that Iranian society remains in an explosive state more than three years after a nationwide uprising<\/a> that brought the topic of regime change into mainstream public discourse.<\/p>\n

The most recent protests are not only another reminder of the regime\u2019s vulnerability; they serve to highlight the brutality and contempt for human rights that makes that regime so unworthy of the international legitimacy it has been afforded in recent interactions with most Western nations. Even as the protests and resulting crackdowns were ongoing, that offer of legitimacy was reiterated in the form of plans for the Europe-Iran Business Forum, which is scheduled to begin on Monday with participation from the European Union\u2019s head of foreign policy, Josep Borrell, among others.<\/p>\n

The new protests in Iran and the Business Forum<\/h3>\n

Borrell\u2019s decision to participate in the event had already come under fire because of its proximity to the February 4 conviction in a Belgian court for a high-ranking Iranian diplomat<\/a> who attempted to bomb an expatriate gathering<\/a> near Paris in 2018, which the NCRI<\/a> organized. The new protests have naturally helped to fuel broader criticism of the Business Forum as an example of Western policies of appeasement in the face of a wide range of malign activities perpetrated by the Iranian regime both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

The unrest in Sistan and Baluchistan started when fuel porters discovered that the IRGC had dug large trenches near the border with Pakistan to prevent people to cross with merchandise that the IRGC itself has been known to smuggle in much larger quantities. Some of the porters, who are almost exclusively members of the local Baluch ethnic minority, then gathered to protest the authorities\u2019 obstruction of their only livelihood. The IRGC promptly responded with gunfire, killing several impoverished locals before also driving residents out of a border village in anticipation of an outraged response.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a>: Saravan Uprising, No. 2 \u2013 General Strike in Saravan, Clashes Between the People, Revolutionary Guards Continue, More than 40 people killed, over 100 wounded #FreeIran<\/a> #IranProtests<\/a> #HumanRights<\/a> #StandUp4HumanRights<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/3XWgs0ZL0d<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 23, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n