Iranians are protesting their government on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Today in Iran marks the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy and installed the Ayatollah Khomeini as the first supreme leader of the Islamic Republic. The occasion usually brings crowds to the streets of Tehran and across the country, but this year's events are tense. All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly is in Tehran and joins us now. Mary Louise, thanks for being with us.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE: Hey there, Scott.

SIMON: Tell us what's happening there today, what you can see.

KELLY: Well, what we've seen is thousands and thousands of people converging on Azadi Square. This is - that means freedom square. It's a big square in central Tehran. Huge rally - President Raisi's voice booming from loudspeakers above us, a lot of people carrying signs showing photos of the first supreme leader, Khomeini, and the current one, Khamenei, Signs reading down with USA, down with Israel. We spoke with one man - his name was Seyed. He's 33. And I asked, why are you here? Are you here to support your government or here to support Iran?

SEYED: I'm definitely here to support Iran. And I'm definitely here to tell the government that we need to do some serious changes, especially when it comes to the economy.

KELLY: Other people we spoke to, Scott, were more hardcore, more pro-government. One young woman told me, we love Khamenei.

SIMON: And we noted that the atmosphere is tense this year. And certainly, that would be tied to the protests that began in September.

KELLY: It certainly is. I mean, it was fascinating. We got a taste of that just last night. The government had organized a fireworks show to kick everything off. And as the fireworks started exploding, we're leaning out the windows of our hotel to listen, and you could suddenly hear chanting begin, coming from apartment buildings around us as other people opened their windows.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in non-English language).

KELLY: They're saying there, death to the dictator. We also heard calls, death to Khamenei and freedom. As you know, Scott, this country has seen months of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was killed last September in police custody. Since then, hundreds of people have been killed in the protests, thousands detained. Four have been executed. That's according to human rights groups. So Revolution Day this year is a little different. I think, among other things, it's a chance for the regime to say, everything's under control. Nothing to see here. Everything is calm.

SIMON: And, Mary Louise, is it your impression that, in fact, the protests are done, that it's just shouting in the middle of the night now and not the mass protests we saw?

KELLY: So on the surface, it's - the protests have been quieted. They have been crushed. But we have interviewed a lot of people here who say the grievances that fueled them have not gone away. They're mad at their leaders. And this is both in Tehran, and we managed to get outside. We drove to Isfahan this week. That is another big Iranian city about five hours by car from Tehran. We talked to people - people, even though they are scared to speak with visiting journalists, so to protect them, we're not going to use their names. But I want you to hear just a taste. This is what one woman told us when I asked about this. It's the 44th anniversary of the revolution. And I asked 44 years from now, are we still going to be marking this? Or is this regime still going to be around?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) No, I don't think so because the youth of our country are so much awake. And there is the sense of freedom in them that I don't think it will last for another two years.

KELLY: And I will add, Scott, her father was with her. He was in his 40s back in 1979, during the revolution. He was standing, nodding in agreement with his daughter. He told us the promises of the revolution were false.

SIMON: Mary Louise, you and our crew are American journalists. Can you report freely?

KELLY: So we are free to ask whatever we want. We've talked to a lot of people. Today at the Revolution Day events, people were eager to speak to us. They were queuing up to speak to us. We were stopped twice, once by uniformed police, once by plainclothes, asked to see our papers. We showed them our temporary press ID. We were allowed to carry on. I will add, we have not been able to report from everywhere we would like to be. We asked to go to Evin Prison here in Tehran. That's where political prisoners are being held. And we were told, not possible.

SIMON: NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, thanks so much.

KELLY: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.