In the past few years, Iran has witnessed waves of popular protests involving large parts of the population making economic and political demands.
On 28 December 2017, demonstrations erupted in Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran. The unrest quickly extended to other cities, and continued into 2018. The protesters’ demands focused on the economy at first, but soon included political slogans against the regime.
These were the largest demonstrations in the country since the 2009 ‘Green Movement’, when supporters of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets to demand the removal of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claiming the election results were fraudulent.
