The numbers were horrifying: Anywhere from 400 to more than 1,500 dead and thousands more imprisoned at the hands of the Iranian government. Gunned down from helicopters and rooftops, the bodies of the dead were confiscated by the regime, and the families of the murdered were warned not to hold funerals.

This was the cost of the Iranian people’s protests against the regime last November. And yet, thousands more are marching against Iran and its supreme leader this weekend, demanding freedom and honesty from an authoritarian regime that offers neither.

This new round of protests was inspired by the Iranian government’s admission that it had “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing every single passenger on board, many of whom were Iranian citizens. Iran did not offer a true apology — instead, top officials gave an excuse, arguing that if President Trump had not escalated tensions within the region, the “human error” would never have occurred, and 176 people would still be alive.

This, after days of lies and an attempt to cover the whole thing up by destroying evidence on the ground, rightly incensed a people still hurting from the regime’s violence in November.

“We don’t want Islamic Republic!” chanted students at Iran’s Beheshti University in Tehran.

Video shows students chanting: "We don't want Islamic Republic" during the protest against #Iran's Islamic Regime over shot-down by Flight #PS752 by #IRGC|ASF in Beheshti university of #Tehran minutes ago.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/q7ed5MjYKd — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 12, 2020



Even more refused to walk on the images of U.S. and Israeli flags painted on the sidewalks.



#IranProtests2020 Iranian students refuse to walk on the American and Israeli flags painted on Univ. grounds. You hear how they shame the basijis that do? #دیماه_۹۸ pic.twitter.com/mM6eB86wxd — Saghar Erica Kasraie (@SagharKasraie) January 12, 2020

The Iranian people don’t just want answers. They want justice. “Resignation is not enough. Prosecution is necessary,” they chanted in front of Tehran’s Amir Kabir University.

Wow: Iranian students in front of Amir Kabir University in Tehran protest regime downing of passenger plane full of students. "Resignation is not enough. Prosecution is necessary," they chant https://t.co/xBG3cQINPe — Borzou Daragahi 🖊🗒 (@borzou) January 11, 2020

And in a sharp rebuke to the regime, protesters tore down images of Iranian general and terrorist, Qassem Soleimani, calling him “murderer” and a “traitor” and destroying the Iranian government’s narrative that in killing Soleimani, the United States had united Iranians around the banner of anti-American sentiment.

#IranProtests - Isfahan “they say our enemy is America, but our enemy is right here” pic.twitter.com/vydbll9uso — Saghar Erica Kasraie (@SagharKasraie) January 11, 2020

The risk these protesters are taking is extraordinary. Based on recent events, many of them could lose their lives, and they know it. Now, the question is: How will the rest of the world respond? Will they support the Iranian people, or will they hold them at arm’s length to prevent provoking the Iranian government?

To its credit, the Trump administration has already signaled its support. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the U.S. would stand “with the Iranian people who deserve a better future.” And Trump, in what is now the most liked Persian tweet in the history of Twitter, vowed to continue standing with “the brave and suffering Iranian people.”

به مردم شجاع و رنج کشیده ایران: من از ابتدای دوره ریاست جمهوریم با شما ایستاده‌ام و دولت من همچنان با شما خواهد ایستاد. ما اعتراضات شما را از نزدیک دنبال می کنیم. شجاعت شما الهام بخش است. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Right now, Iran is a powder keg. The Iranian government tried to extinguish last year’s protests with brutality, but the Iranian people have now made it clear that they care more about freedom than their own safety. “There is fire under the ashes,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director for the Center for Human Rights in Iran, said, citing an Iranian proverb. “They did not put out the fire. And don’t be surprised if it gets inflamed."