Iran is seeing the biggest outbreak of antigovernment protests in nearly a decade, with two protesters reported killed Sunday and scores arrested in cities nationwide.

Demonstrators are voicing frustration over the economy and calling for the resignation of President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a stunning show of defiance in a country where public dissent is dealt with harshly.

Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Shashank Bengali traveled to Iran in August and found simmering anger with the theocracy and outright desperation among a middle class suffering from years of international economic sanctions.

Thread: The #Iranprotests are a major and apparently spontaneous event, but when I traveled there this summer the seeds of this anger were everywhere. (1/8) — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017


With @rmost12, we met mullahs in the holy city of Qom who openly voiced discontent with the excesses of the theocracy while ordinary people suffered (2/8) https://t.co/MYU1CZDlGm — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

"Imam Khomeini said clergymen should lead a simple life," one mullah said. "If you drive a car, it should be a common car. But some clergy and politicians live a luxurious life." (3/8) — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

In Tehran, we met soldiers completing the mandatory military service who described such disenchantment inside the army that draftees were turning guns on their commanders (4/8) https://t.co/VtlaIWJBpQ — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

A sign that the regime has not persuaded young Iranians to continue along the revolutionary path. One draftee said, "I hate the service and I hate my surroundings. I don't feel any patriotism in my heart." (5/8) — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017


The saddest sign of desperation are the ads scrawled outside hospitals in Tehran in which middle-class Iranians try to sell their kidneys (6/8) https://t.co/sTIwuK5gLj — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

We saw new ads go up overnight: Construction workers, shopkeepers, people with once stable careers who now hoped to part with an organ to pay off debts and support families (7/8) — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

Iran is such a sophisticated and proud society that visitors can be charmed by how normal things seem. But @rmost12 likes to say the rot is just below the surface. It's in the open now and no one can say where it will lead (8/8) — Shashank Bengali (@SBengali) December 30, 2017

A university student attends a protest inside Tehran University while a smoke grenade is thrown by anti-riot Iranian police, in Tehran Saturday., (AP )


ALSO:

‘Death to the dictator!’ is new rallying cry in Iran as antigovernment protests spread to capital

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia


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