As Iran marks the 40th day since the brutal crackdown on the 8th and 9th January protests, reports from across the country — particularly from Rojhelat — reveal a fierce standoff between the ‘tradition of mourning’ and the regime’s ‘machinery of suppression’.
Cemeteries have turned into battlegrounds, with major cities including Tehran, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Abdanan under the heaviest security measures seen in months. In an attempt to prevent families and citizens from gathering, the regime has deployed armoured vehicles and riot police at the entrances to local cemeteries.
Despite this military-style blockade, defiance erupted in cities such as Najafabad. The families of victims broke through security cordons, holding portraits of their loved ones and chanting radical slogans such as: “We did not give our lives to compromise; we will not praise a murderous leader.”
The Legacy of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’: Mourning as Revolution
The tradition of the ‘Chehelom’ (the 40^(th)-day memorial), which emerged as a powerful catalyst for the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ uprising, has resurfaced with even greater intensity in this latest wave of unrest. These ceremonies have evolved beyond religious or familial rites to become “hubs for the reproduction of public rage” and vital platforms for reconnecting grassroots activist networks.
Sporadic clashes and persistent defiance
Field reports indicate sporadic skirmishes between protesters and security forces on the fringes of several memorial sites. In multiple locations, the use of tear gas to disperse crowds was met with fierce resistance from local youths, with anti-regime chants continuing late into the night.
The regime’s desperate attempt to militarise public spaces underscores its deep-seated fear of the “Explosive 40th Day”. What was once a private moment of grief has now become a permanent fixture on the calendar of Iranian civil struggle—a cycle of remembrance that the state’s bullets have failed to break.