Nationwide Protests Expand on the Tenth Day as Tehran Bazaar Strike Continues and Dozens of Cities Rise
7-January-2026
Category: Freedom of Expression، protesters، Students
6 January 2026
News category: Freedom of Expression – Protests – Students
Breathing in Confinement — On the tenth day of nationwide protests, widespread demonstrations and strikes were held in cities across the country.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, based on field information received and compiled reports, nationwide protests today expanded in both scope and intensity compared to the previous day, despite heightened security measures and extensive repression.
According to the report, the strike by merchants in various sections of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar continued, accompanied by large gatherings and demonstrations by shopkeepers, traders, and citizens. Despite raids on protesters and the firing of tear gas, security forces were unable to halt the protests. By lighting fires and chanting slogans such as “Freedom, Freedom, Freedom,” and by maintaining their protest presence in the bazaar and surrounding streets, merchants emphasised that resolving the deep economic and social crisis requires changes beyond the existing power structure and depends on achieving freedom.
Another major development of the day was the extraordinarily large turnout in the city of Abdanan. According to published reports, approximately 30,000 people out of the city’s 45,000 residents participated in the protests. One of the central slogans chanted by protesters in Abdanan was “Death to Khamenei.”
In Malekshahi, residents also turned the funeral ceremonies of those killed in the protests—the late Mohammadreza Karami (16 years old) and Farez Agha Mohammadi—into protest gatherings. Participants chanted slogans such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the IRGC,” expressing their anger at the repression carried out by state forces.
On the same day, families of political prisoners sentenced to death, coinciding with the 102nd week of the hunger strike under the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign in 55 prisons nationwide, announced their support for the nationwide uprising and for the resistance of political prisoners.
Political prisoners participating in the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign across 55 prisons also issued a statement, paying tribute to those killed during the nationwide uprising and reaffirming their unwavering solidarity with the people and their continued struggle against the death penalty.
Meanwhile, in an action contrary to fundamental human-rights principles, security and law-enforcement forces fired tear gas into the grounds of Sina Hospital. Gunfire was also reported in the vicinity of the hospital, and access to the medical facility was severely restricted—placing patients and medical staff at serious risk.
According to received reports, protest demonstrations were held today in the cities of Hamedan, Ilam, Mashhad, Lahijan, Sabzevar, Qasr-e Shirin, Asadabad, Lirdaf, Alvand, Borujerd, Murmuri, Yazdanshahr, Kermanshah, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Malekshahr (Isfahan), Torbat-e Heydarieh, Qazvin, Abdanan, Malekshahi, Bandar Abbas, Kavar, Babol, Marvdasht, and others. In Tehran, areas including Tehransar, Abu Saeed Square, Gomrok, 30 Tir Street, Saadi Street, Azari Intersection, Narmak, and several other neighbourhoods also witnessed protest gatherings and demonstrations.
Continuing the wave of protests, students at Kharazmi University of Karaj held a rally and demonstration on campus, declaring their support for the nationwide uprising.