Iranian protesters set fire to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Museum Thursday night in the clearest and most direct act of defiance against the regime.
Video of the event shows a fire spreading through the museum, which commemorated the founder of the regime and was established in his home after his death.
In two clips obtained by Fox News Digital, people applaud burning the museum, with a woman saying “Great job” after confirming the act.
Protests started in mid-September after Iran’s morality police arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country’s hijab laws. They rushed her to hospital an hour later with what appeared to be injuries sustained from a beating. She died three days later.
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The regime has struggled to quell the protests over the past two months, watching almost helplessly as the protests spread to over 140 cities and towns across the country. Security forces have killed around 350 people and apprehended over 15,000 others, according to Iran International.
A photo of Ayatollah Khomeini leaning against a wall on the balcony of his former residence in Jamaran, north Tehran, Iran, Jan. 2, 1994. The building is preserved as a museum.
(Photo by Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
A member of the anti-regime group People’s Mujahedin, also known as MEK, told Fox News Digital that children as young as 10 years old have died due to the actions of the security forces.
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The regime has indiscriminately attacked the crowds in order to try and dampen the protests, but they have only appeared to further spur them.
A fountain stands in the courtyard of the house of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Jan. 1, 2019. Khomeini was the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, which led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Khomeini’s house was converted into a museum after his death in 1989.
(Farshid Motahari/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The demonstrators have used arson in response to the crackdown, burning down a number of buildings in addition to the Ayatollah museum. On Friday, the protestors set fire to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in Mahabad.
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The regime even referenced arson as one of its chief causes in choosing to hand down a death sentence this week, as the courts started ordering execution for some protesters – but the act has only further inspired the protesters to continue with their cause.
Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police last month, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022.
(AP/Middle East Images, File)
Maryam Rajavi, leader of MEK, said in a statement Thursday that the people have pledged “fire will be reciprocated with fire.”
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“The world witnessed the decisive resolve of the people to overthrow the regime and establish a democratic republic based on the people’s votes and the separation of religion and the state,” Rajavi said. “The oppressors do not have the ability to confront a nation that has risen up.”
