The IRGC reacted on Thursday by blaming and threatening Iranian protestors following five days of enigmatic quiet over the rallies in Iran.
The IRGC acknowledged “appreciation for the police force’s actions throughout recent days” in the first statement on Thursday, September 22. This was a tacit endorsement of the death of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent attacks that killed, maimed, and injured Iranian protestors. Additionally, it was a sign that the IRGC openly supported the bloody suppression of the protests in over 80 Iranian cities spread across the 31 Iranian provinces.
On the same day, a longer, more resolute statement hailed the police as the guardians of Iranians’ lives, property, and families. While this is happening, multiple videos uploaded on social media show police shootings and frequently hitting women and young people who are protesting.
The main variation in the police’s actions from prior protests since 2009 is that young Iranian men and women have begun to engage in combat for the first time. Videos show them shoving back their plainclothes operatives and highly armed police officers. Particularly in towns like Rasht, Qazvin, and Hamadan, the police force is frequently seen running from daring young people who stand up to them and the Basij militia.
The IRGC accused the demonstrators and frequent hardliners of “sedition,” a tired charge. The government’s strategic accomplishments, such as Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and President Ebrahim Raisi’s motivational trip to New York, are allegedly being undermined by the demonstrations, according to Iranian officials and clergy. While simultaneously government agents were assaulting and detaining demonstrators, Raisi participated in the UN General Assembly and spoke there, claiming that his administration was an advocate for justice.
The IRGC statement added insult to injury by equating Iranian demonstrators with fighters for the Islamic State. This occurs when the Iranian police and Basij militia imitated ISIS methods by dispatching soldiers in ambulances to put down protests. The way the hijab police treat women, moreover, is a perfect replica of how ISIS treated women it confronted in Syria and Iraq.