{"id":303672,"date":"2023-03-13T10:39:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T09:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=303672"},"modified":"2023-03-26T17:52:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T16:52:14","slug":"irans-security-apparatus-is-designed-to-quash-protests-so-how-did-the-uprising-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/irans-security-apparatus-is-designed-to-quash-protests-so-how-did-the-uprising-persist\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Security Apparatus Is Designed to Quash Protests. So How Did the Uprising Persist?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-protests-security-forces-crackdown\"<\/p>\n

The Iranian people\u2019s <\/span>nationwide uprising<\/span><\/a> has entered its sixth month. The world has heard the voice of an oppressed nation calling for freedom and democracy. These demonstrations continue in a country where the entire security apparatus is designed to confront popular protests and where crackdown meets precedent<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the <\/span>anti-monarchy revolution in 1979<\/span><\/a>, Iran experienced the first massive anti-regime protest on June 20, 1981. The protest, organized by Iran\u2019s principal opposition <\/span>Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK),<\/span><\/a> was attended by nearly half a million citizens.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sensing a danger to his newly established theocracy, then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the <\/span>Revolutionary Guards (IRGC<\/span><\/a>) to open fire on unarmed protesters. Thousands were killed and arrested, and an unofficial martial law was announced across Iran. MEK supporters were arrested, prosecuted, tortured, and executed. The news of heinous and vicious tortures against the arrestees sent shivers to the people outside. The regime managed to spread fear of torture and execution in society.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first major but economically-driven protests and rebellions happened in the early 1990s in several cities in Iran, <\/span>including Mashhad<\/span><\/a>, Qazvin, Eslamshahr, and Lamerd. These uprisings were mercilessly oppressed, but the ruling theocracy sensed the danger, as the operating troops were deployed from other cities, and the regime was surprised. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Deducing that Iran\u2019s restive society bears more uprisings, the clerical regime adopted its oppressive security apparatus. In all countries, streets belong to people for demanding their rights. Totalitarian regimes try to take away this right, and the Iranian regime is no exception.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, Tehran started rearranging its oppressive forces that were mostly focused on confronting the MEK\u2019s units or fighting in the Iran-Iraq war.\u00a0 The IRGC\u2019s Ashura and Al-Zahra battalions, consisting of paramilitary Basij veterans, were established in the early 1990s. This later evolved into dozens of security organizations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, we publish information on some of these security and intelligence organizations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Basij base burning in Tehran | October 28, 2022<\/div><\/div>
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