Iran launches new suppressive patrols under various names to further crackdown on dissent and street protests.
In the past, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the notorious Basiji forces used their legal and extrajudicial authority under the pretext of “providing security” with the “Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice” patrols.
Now according to Iran’s Chief of Police, a new kind of patrol called the “Razavion” is to be launched in Iran’s streets and neighborhoods.
“An agreement has been reached between the police and the Basij Organization in the context of further engagement and cooperation on the launch of the Razavion Patrol,” Hossein Ashtari, Iran’s Police Chief told IRNA News Agency on May 8.
Before this, the launch of these patrols was announced in November 2018, simultaneous with Iran’s Week of Basij. The patrols were carried out in several cities including Bukan in western Iran, Yazd in central Iran and Alborz Province.
After that, it was announced on May 5 by state-run news agencies that the Razavion Patrol were also launched in Qom to prevent “theft and crime”. According to the commander of Iran’s police force, the patrols have been launched with the aim of “promoting the people’s security”.
The Razavion patrols dubbed as “neighborhood security patrols” by Ashtari have been compared to the dreaded “Revolution Committee” patrols active in the first decade of Iran’s revolution. The Revolution Committees were the core of what later became the Revolutionary Guards and were made up of “Pasdars” (members of the IRGC).
According to the Qom Chief of Police, the Razavion Patrol “is a plan on the national level which has been coordinated with the IRGC, Judiciary, and the police and will use the infinite power of the Basij”.
The Iranian regime’s biggest fear are street protests as anger mounts among Iranians due to Iran’s economic crisis.
Such reactions by the Iranian regime are not new. However, despite the regime’s massive suppression campaign and arrests over the past year, Iranians continue to protest and demand their rights on the streets.
Source » irannewswire