Protests break out in Iran over currency’s plunge to record low
Anger over Iran’s worsening economic situation pushes people onto the streets in Tehran and other cities
Iran’s largest protests in three years erupted on Monday after the country’s currency plummeted to a record low against the US dollar, and the head of the Central Bank resigned.
State TV reported the resignation of Mohammad Reza Farzin, while traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran as well as in the Shush neighbourhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. Merchants at the market played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought Islamists to power.
The official IRNA news agency confirmed the protests. Witnesses reported similar rallies in other major cities including Isfahan in central Iran, Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast. In some places in Tehran, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
Monday’s protests were the biggest since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. She was arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Witnesses told Associated Press that traders shut their shops on Monday and asked others to do the same. The semi-official ILNA news agency said many businesses stopped trading even though some kept their shops open.
On Sunday, protests were limited to two major mobile markets in downtown Tehran, where the demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans.