Iranian people receive Raisi with protests: Causes and repercussions

The protests that occurred in Khuzestan province two weeks ago due to the water and electricity crisis and the internet outage moved to the Iranian capital Tehran on July 31 and also witnessed gatherings in several regions to support the Ahvazi people against the water scarcity in their province. This comes in conjunction with the mullah regime preparing the country to receive Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, whose inauguration ceremony is scheduled to take place on August 3.

Massive protests

Activists on social media reported that during the demonstrations in Tehran, protesters raised slogans such as “Death to the dictator”, “The country is devoid of water, and pressures are increasing”, “Death to the Islamist Republic”, “All these years are crimes”, “Death to the principle of Velayat-e Faqih”, and “Our Supreme Leader is the greatest shame for us,” declaring their rejection of the government’s performance of outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for the country’s political and economic crises in general, and the water crisis in Khuzestan in particular.

Iranian media revealed that the protests erupted in Tehran and several Iranian cities after the celebration of the victory of the Persepolis football team in the Persian Gulf Pro League, as the celebration turned into a scene of massive demonstrations against the ruling mullah regime led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This prompted the Iranian security forces to launch tear gas canisters at the demonstrators in order to disperse them in front of Tehran Theater Square.

Rouhani claims

It should be noted that President Rouhani and a number of his officials began making claims of appeasement of the Iranian people, claiming that the government was not the cause of the country's crises, whether economic, political or other, but that an economic and cultural war waged by enemies against Iran was the cause of the county’s current situation, as Rouhani seeks to save face before leaving his post.

Popular anger

Osama al-Hatimi, a journalist specializing in Iranian affairs, explained that the political activity in Tehran comes against the backdrop of the escalation of protests in the Ahvaz region, which is witnessing severe crises, in addition to the Baluchestan region, which has also witnessed a state of insecurity due to the marginalization it has witnessed for many decades.

Hatimi pointed out, in an exclusive statement to the Reference, that the movement of these protests to the capital is a natural matter, and this has an important significance, which is that things have gone beyond the main motives, especially the economic, instead expanding to the popular rejection of the mullah dictatorship of Khamenei, who bears responsibility for everything that happens in the country.

Negative impact and increased security

Regarding the impact of these protests on the ceremony to hand over power, Hatimi stressed that they will indeed have a negative impact on Raisi’s inauguration ceremony, especially as he is taking the reins of power at a time of deteriorating economic conditions in the country, in addition to a number of demonstrations taking place throughout Iran, which will require the new Iranian president to make more effort to brighten the face of the regime before the people and to solve many outstanding problems that have brought the country into a poor situation, especially in light of the conservatives' control over the joints of the state.

Hatimi added that as a result, the security precautions will be more strict and the celebrations will be less, as the security services will make sure that the inauguration does not appear badly and that no protests take place that could make the political regime look bad in front of the international community, especially since there are international reports that confirmed the past presidential elections witnessed many violations and abuses, which prompted the appointment of Raisi as president and not his election.