TEHRAN
\nHuge crowds of protesters have been marching through Iran\u2019s capital and other cities, videos show, in what is said to be the largest show of force by opponents of the clerical establishment in years. The peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and the second city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, which were not dispersed by security forces, can be seen in footage verified by BBC Persian.
\nLater, a monitoring group reported a nationwide internet blackout. Protesters can be heard in the footage calling for the overthrow of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late former shah, who had urged his supporters to take to the streets.
\nIt was the 12th consecutive day of unrest that has been sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and has spread to more than 100 cities and towns across all 31 of Iran\u2019s provinces, according to human rights groups. The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) has said at least 34 protesters – five of them children – and eight security personnel have been killed, and that 2,270 other protesters have been arrested.
\nNorway-based monitor Iran Human Rights (IHR) has said at least 45 protesters, including eight children, have been killed by security forces. Chants of \u201cLong live the shah\u201d and \u201cThis is the final battle! Pahlavi will return\u201d can be heard. And at one point, several men are seen climbing on an overpass and removing what appears to be surveillance cameras attached to it.
\nAnother video posted online showed a large crowd of protesters walking along a major road in eastern Tehran. In footage sent to BBC Persian from the north of the capital, another large crowd is heard chanting \u201cThis is the final battle! Pahlavi will return\u201d. Elsewhere in the north, protesters were filmed shouting \u201cDishonourable\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid, we are all together\u201d following a clash with security forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN Huge crowds of protesters have been marching through Iran\u2019s capital and other cities, videos show, in what is said to be the largest show of force by opponents of the clerical establishment in years. The peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and the second city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, which were not dispersed by security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n