Tehran’s decision to block internet access helps it control reporting of what happened during protests

The internet is being restored in Iran after a week-long government-imposed shutdown in response to protests. The cuts make details about the effect of recent protests over fuel-price increases hard to pin down. they were also an attempt to stop people from organising rallies. Monitor website NetBlocks said mobile and fixed-line cuts were identified in Tehran, Mashhad and Shiraz, with other cities showing signs of disruption. The site said the disconnection was the most severe it had seen in any country in terms of its technical complexity and breadth. It took 24 hours to completely shut down internet traffic. Authorities had to co-ordinate with a range of service providers to cut access, leaving connectivity levels as low as 5 per cent. People have struggled since US President Donald Trump withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions last year. Inflation is rising, as is unemployment. The shutdown is one of the country’s largest yet, with sanctions from US tech companies exacerbating the situation by blocking access to virtual private networks. It came a week after the November 15 announcement of a petrol price rise, which sparked demonstrations that rapidly turned violent, with petrol stations, banks and stores burnt to the ground. A UN office said it feared the unrest might have killed “a significant number of people”, echoing Amnesty’s estimate of 106 deaths. The restoration brought messaging apps back to life for Iranians cut off from loved ones abroad. It meant videos were again shared widely, with some purporting to show the demonstrations and the security-force crackdown that followed. They offer only fragments of encounters but to some extent they fill the void left by Iran’s state-controlled TV and radio channels. On their airwaves, hard-line officials claimed that foreign conspiracies and exile groups started the trouble. Newspapers offered only pubic relations for the government or brief reporting at best, the moderate daily Hamshahri said in an analysis yesterday. Recently released videos span the country. One from Shiraz shows a crowd of more than 100 people scattering as gunfire erupts from a police station. A gunshot rings out, followed by a burst of machinegun fire. In Kerman, the sound of breaking glass echoes over a street where debris burns. Motorcycle-riding members of the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, then chase the protesters away. Another video in Kermanshah shows plainclothes security forces, some wielding nightsticks, dragging a man along by his hair.

Tehran’s decision to block internet access helps it control reporting of what happened during protests

Amnesty International estimates more than 100 people were killed during strife