Iranian Anti-Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset Mike Saidi Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute January 12, 2018 202-888-6573 [email protected] www.criticalthreats.org Iranian Anti-Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset Mike Saidi, Iran Analyst Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute January 12, 2018 202-888-6573 [email protected] www.criticalthreats.org With Marie Donovan, Nicholas Carl, Parker Selby, and the Institute for the Study of War. About This Dataset This dataset describes recent protest incidents in Iran, including location data, type of activity among protesters, and regime response. Sources are videos of protests submitted by people in Iran to international media outlets, e.g., BBC Persian and Manoto TV. This dataset is not an exhaustive set of publicly available protest videos. This set covers approximately 250 videos. Data covers protests that occurred between December 28, 2017 and January 9, 2018. Column Contents Name Definition Row # Line number. Data fields span two pages. Date Date of protest (Gregorian Calendar date) Persian Calendar Date Date of protest (Persian Calendar date) Location City or town where protest occurred Population Population of the city or town where the protest occurred Landmark Location within city or town where protest occurred. Identified by a landmark (e.g., city square, street, building). This cell may also contain more general location information (e.g., neighborhood where the protest took place) Size (approx.) Rough estimate of number of protesters Protest, Counterprotest, or Neither? Indicates if demonstrators protested against the regime or supported it. Notable Chants Audible, repeated chants Composition of protesters Demographic composition based on sex and age. When no characteristic stands out, composition is labelled "diverse". Protest Peaceful or Violent? If protests involved physical violence or remained peaceful Protest Behavior Description of protesters' general behavior, e.g., marching, chanting, destroying public property Regime Action Description of the regime's response, including composition of regime security forces present, when available Protesters Harmed or Killed? If any protesters were harmed or killed during the event Source Full link to video source Row Contents Each row represents a separate protest, counterprotest, or regime action. Items marked with a * are unverified. Common Terms LEF: Law Enforcement Forces, Iran's police force. The LEF consists of commissioned officers and enlisted personnel LEF SF: Law Enforcement Forces Special Forces are the anti-riot units equipped with full anti-riot gear such as face masks, shields, billy sticks, and other weaponry SL: Supreme Leader Basij: Basij Organization IRGC: Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps 3 Row Date Persian Location Population Landmark Size (approx.) Protest, Notable Chants # Calendar (City/Town, Counterprotest, Date Province) or Neither? 1 12/28/2017 7 Dey Mashhad, 2,766,258 Near Shohada Sq. Medium - Large Protest "If embezzlement decreases, then our Khorasan Razavi problems will be solved!" "Reza Shah, may your spirit live on!" "Death to Rouhani" "Let him go!" "Forget about Syria! Think about our condition!" "Death to the dictator [Khamenei]" "No to Gaza! No to Lebanon! My life is only for Iran" "Iran without a King is an Iran without [financial] organization" 2 12/28/2017 7 Dey Neyshabour, 239,185 Unknown Medium Protest "Forget about Syria, think about our Khorasan Razavi condition!" 3 12/28/2017 7 Dey Shahroud, 140,474 Unknown Medium Protest "Don’t be scared! Don't be scared! We Semnan are all [in this] together" "The women have joined us! The unsupportive [folks] are just sitting around" "We are Aryans! We do not accept Arabs [in reference to Mullahs]" 4 12/29/2017 8 Dey Abadan, 212,744 Grand Mosque Small Protest N/A Khuzestan Iranian Anti‐Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset 4 Row Composition Protest Protest Behavior Regime Action Protesters Source # of Protesters Peaceful or Harmed or Violent? Killed? 1 Diverse (Relatively) Violent Chanting, marching, LEF, LEF Special Forces Anti- Yes https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPrphWDGHu/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; destruction of public Riot, tear gas, line formations, https://www.instagram.com/p/BdP0pfbjXuB/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; property beating with batons, crowd https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQNRtiBawg/?taken-by=voafarsi; cordoning; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQKN7Ch_Ep/?taken-by=voafarsi; Securitization - Helicopter https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQeuJJhH2M/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPo3yhheIU/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; monitoring https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPo3yhheIU/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPmljCh8Mk/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPowj-hQOZ/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdPlAYYFk9I/?taken-by=amadnews.official; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQLKT3j_tk/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdP764KBNLf/?taken-by=voafarsi; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdP2rOKBjJ7/?taken-by=voafarsi; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQBER3A8wn/?taken-by=shabtabnews 2 Diverse Peaceful Chanting, marching Unknown No https://www.instagram.com/p/BdP3vA8h8ez/?taken-by=voafarsi 3 Diverse Peaceful Chanting, marching Unknown Unknown https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQNaoYjNR5/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQL0RsguGT/?taken-by=shabtabnews 4 Diverse Peaceful Gathering, lady N/A N/A https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS0-bXgdbY/?hl=en&taken-by=shabtabnews complains of rampant corruption Iranian Anti‐Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset 5 Row Date Persian Location Population Landmark Size (approx.) Protest, Notable Chants # Calendar (City/Town, Counterprotest, Date Province) or Neither? 5 12/29/2017 8 Dey Ahvaz, Khuzestan 1,112,021 Likely near Naderi Small - Medium Protest "Oh King, may your spirit live on!" Bridge "Support [us]! Support [us]! LEF!" 6 12/29/2017 8 Dey Bojnourd, 199,791 Unknown Small - Medium Protest "Islam has been put up pedestal, and Khorasan Razavi they have crushed the people" 7 12/29/2017 8 Dey Esfahan, Esfahan 1,756,126 Near Enghelab Sq. Medium - Large Protest "Support [us]! Support [us]! LEF!" and Si-o Se Pol "Reza Shah, RIP" "Death to the Daeshi" 8 12/29/2017 8 Dey Hamedan, 525,794 Near Hamedan Medium Protest "Death to the Islamic Republic" Hamedan County governmental "Death to the dictator [Khamenei]" offices 9 12/29/2017 8 Dey Kerman, Kerman 534,441 Unknown N/A Neither N/A Iranian Anti‐Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset 6 Row Composition Protest Protest Behavior Regime Action Protesters Source # of Protesters Peaceful or Harmed or Violent? Killed? 5 Unknown (Relatively) Violent Chanting, marching, Unidentifiable police force Unknown https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS9VaRBE05/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; and armed (likely LEF) shot at protesters, https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSi9XIgOcw/?taken-by=shabtabnews; confrontation protesters may have possibly https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSsOcqBrCz/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial been armed 6 Diverse Peaceful Chanting, marching No No https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS1FFogJ0T/?taken-by=shabtabnews 7 Diverse (Relatively) Violent Chanting, marching, LEF SF anti-riot in full swat Yes https://www.instagram.com/p/BdScoGzhhvt/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; and dispersal; gear in no set formation; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS92v8jb_y/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; Woman confronts LEF Tear gas; LEF (Enlisted and https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSjPg5Bl5y/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; and expresses her Commissioned officers); https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSa9-5BYzN/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; discontentment and Verbal confrontation; Likely https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSwzvgh_ZK/?hl=en&taken-by=manotoofficial; https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS4IM7jNqQ/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian; yells "Death to arrest after an unidentifiable Khamenei" official grabbed a female protester 8 Unknown (Relatively) Violent Chanting; Unknown Unknown https://www.instagram.com/p/BdS0t_HgtCw/?taken-by=shabtabnews; Destruction of public https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSlOjdD4q0/?hl=en&taken-by=bbcpersian property - breaking glass of government office; Blocking off the streets 9 N/A N/A N/A Securitization - Anti-riot police Unknown https://www.instagram.com/p/BdRztGMApG0/?taken-by=shabtabnews present; It is unclear whether the group pictured is a Basij Imam Ali Battalion. LEF forces are clearly present. Iranian Anti‐Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset 7 Row Date Persian Location Population Landmark Size (approx.) Protest, Notable Chants # Calendar (City/Town, Counterprotest, Date Province) or Neither? 10 12/29/2017 8 Dey Kermanshah, 851,405 Near Azadi Sq. Medium - Large Protest "Worthless! Worthless! Worthless! [in Kermanshah reference to the police]" "Death to Rouhani" and "Death to the dictator" "Don't be scared, don't be scared, we are all in this together!" "No Gaza! No Lebanon! My life is only for Iran" "People live like beggars [while Khamenei] lives like a God!" 11 12/29/2017 8 Dey Khorramabad, 348,216 Unknown Small Protest N/A Lorestan 12 12/29/2017 8 Dey Khoy, West 200,958 Unknown Medium Protest N/A Azerbaijan 13 12/29/2017 8 Dey Mashhad, 2,766,258 Unknown N/A Neither N/A Khorasan Razavi 14 12/29/2017 8 Dey Qazvin, Qazvin 381,598 Unknown Medium - Large Protest "Come out fellow countrymen, scream and shout for your rights!" "Death to the dictator" and "Support [us], support