Ekbatan: Home to Collective Resistance
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When streets become too dangerous to take on, people create another form of protest via their homes’ windows. One particular neighborhood, Ekbatan residential complex, has been at the center of this collective resistance and resilience. From the early days of the movement, Ekbatan tenants have formed a "domestic protest" by gathering at the complex common places and chanting through their windows. The collective participation and unity of tenants was an aspiration to other residential complexes around the town, such as Chitgar, who later on joined this tradition by having their own version of evening protests at home. To get more context about Ekbatan, read this blog post by Brian Ackley.
Night of Terror at Ekbatan
On October 31st, videos and messages started to come out of Ekbatan showing the regime security forces conducting systematic attacks on the Ekbatan complex using sound bombs. They were also shooting tear gas through the windows, and attacking private properties. On November 1st, the attacks escalated to a new level where a group of the Basiji militia members, raided the complex and used loudspeakers to threaten and derogate the residents. In one jarring moment, one member is heard to say "we will give our blood, we swear by God, that if we are forced, we will even behead our own wives and children”. A day after these attacks, Ekbatan residents still defied all these terrors and continued with their nightly protest and chants through windows.
Death of A Basij Militia Member And Abduction of 5 Ekbatan Residents
State media announced that a security agent, Arman Aliverdi, was killed by the hands of "rioters" on October 26th at the Ekbatan residential complex. The IRGC and Basij militia conducted a "comando-style" raid on the complex, and arrested 5 tenants and charged them with assault leading to murder. On November 3rd, those charged, were put in front of national TV cameras to "confess" to their crime. Forced confession is a known tactic used by the regime forces. Nonetheless, one of the detainees, Milad Armoun, repeatedly declared that he had no role in this killing nor had any weapon on him while cameras were rolling. People rushed to social media and used hashtags and created visibility for detainees as they may soon be charged with murder and penalized by execution. The name of the detainees are as follows:
Nastooh Nikkhah, 25 years old
Mehdi Jahani, 25 years old
Behrad Hesari, 29 years old
Mohammad Pasandian, 24 years old
Milad Armoun, 25 years old
Other References:
NYT: A Chilling Crackdown at a Tehran Apartment Complex
Al-Monitor: Iran forces fire at protesting homes in west Tehran