Wetin dey hapun for Iran and why dem dey protest?

Plenty protesters don dey march through Iran capital and oda cities for wetin many tok say na di largest show of force by opponents of di clerical establishment for years.

BBC Persian don verify videos of peaceful demonstrations for Tehran and di second city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, and security forces no scata di protest.

Later, one monitoring group report say nationwide internet blackout don dey enforced for di kontri.

For di videos, di protesters dey call for di overthrow of Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and di return of Reza Pahlavi, di son of di late former shah wey currently dey on exile, and who bin ask im supporters to enta street and protest.

Di protest wey start sake of anger ova di collapse of di Iranian currency don spread to more dan 100 cities and towns across all di 31 provinces of Iran, according to human rights groups.

Di Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) report say at least 34 protesters - five of dem children - and eight security personnel don die, and say 2,270 oda protesters don chop arrest.

Anoda human rights group for Norway - Iran Human Rights (IHR) - report dia own say di number of pipo wey security officers kill since di protest start na at least 45 protesters, including eight children.

BBC Persian also confam di deaths and identities of 22 pipo, while Iranian authorities don report di death of six security personnel.

On Thursday evening, videos for social media wey BBC Persian verify show one big crowd of protesters as dem dey move along one major road for Mashhad, for di kontri north-east.

Dem dey chant "Long live di shah" and "Dis na di final battle! Pahlavi go return". And at one point, some men climb on top di overpass and remove wetin be like surveillance cameras wey dey attached to am.

Anoda video online also show large crowd of protesters dey walk along major road for eastern Tehran.

For yet anoda video wey dem send to BBC Persian from di north of di capital, anoda big crowd still dey chant "Dis na di final battle! Pahlavi go return". Elsewhere for di north, protesters for one video dey shout "Dishonourable" and "Make una no fear", we dey togeda" afta dem bin kwanta wit security forces.

Oda videos show wia protesters dey chant "Death to di dictator" - a reference to Khamenei - for di central city of Isfahan; "Long live di shah" for di northern city of Babol, and "Make una no fear, we dey togeda" for di north-western city of Tabriz.

For di western city of Dezful, video wey BBC Persian see show one large crowd of protesters and also security personnel as dem open fire from a central square.

Di evening protests start not long afta Reza Pahlavi, who dem overthrow im papa for di 1979 Islamic revolution and e dey now live for Washington DC, bin call on Iranians to "enta streets and, as a united front, shout your demands".

For im post on X, Pahlavi say, "millions of Iranians dey demand dia freedom tonight", and e describe di protesters as im "courageous compatriots".

E thank US President Donald Trump for holding di "regime to account", and call on European leaders to do di same.

Iranian state media bin downplay di scale of Thursday protest, and for some cases, dem deny say di protest even hapun at all as dem post videos of empty streets.

Meanwhile, internet watchdog NetBlocks say dia metrics show say Iran dey "in di midst of nationwide internet blackout".

"Di incident follow a series of escalating digital censorship measures to target protests across di kontri and hinder di public right to communicate at a critical moment," NetBlocks tok.

Trump threaten to intervene

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump again tok say America go intervene militarily if Iranian authorities kill protesters.

"I don let dem know say if dem start killing pipo, wey dem dey normally do during dia riots - dem dey get plenty riots - if dem do am, we go hit dem very hard," Trump tok for one interview wit di Hugh Hewitt Show.

Separately, di US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, tok say di Iranian economy dey "on di ropes".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian bin don call on di security forces to exercise "utmost restraint" wen dem dey handle peaceful protests. "Any violent or coercive behaviour suppose avoided," im statement tok.

Khamenei - wey get di ultimate power for Iran - also tok on Saturday say make di authorities "speak wit di protesters" but say "make dem put rioters in dia place".

Since wen di protest start and why?

Di protests start on 28 December, wen shopkeepers vex enta di streets of Tehran to express dia anger afta anoda sharp fall for di value of di Iranian currency, di rial, against di US dollar for di open market.

Di rial don sink to a record low ova di past year as sanctions ova Iran nuclear programme dey squeeze di economy wey don already weak sake of govment mismanagement and corruption.

Iran economy dey inside deep trouble, wit little prospect for growth dis year or next. Official annual inflation stand at around 42%, food inflation pass 70%, and tori be say some basic goods don rise for price by more dan 110%.

University students later join di protests and na so e start to dey spread to oda cities, wit crowds chanting slogans against diclerical establishment.

For one message wey one UK-based activist send to di BBC, one woman for Tehran say na despair dey drive di protests.

"We dey live for limbo," she tok. "I feel like I dey hang for air wit neither wings to migrate nor hope to pursue my goals hia. Life hia don bicom unbearable."

Anoda woman say she dey protest bicos her dreams don dey "stolen" by di clerical establishment and she want make dem know say "we still get voice to shout, and fist to punch dem for face."

One woman for di western city of Ilam say she know young pipo from families wey get connection to di establishment who dey also take part for di protests.

"My friend and her three sisters, who dia papa na well-known figure for di intelligence services, dey also join di protest but dia papa no know," she tok.

Di protests bin don dey widespread since di uprising for 2022 wey dey caused by di death of Mahsa Amini for police custody.

Mahsa Amini na one young Kurdish woman who di morality police bin detain sake of accuse say she no wear her hijab properly.

More dan 550 pipo bin kpai for dat protest and ova 20,000 dey detained by security forces ova several months, according to human rights groups.

Di biggest protests since di Islamic revolution bin take place in 2009, wen millions of Iranians enta street for major cities afta one presidential election.

Security pipo kill dozens of opposition supporters and detain thousands more.