By Haidar Khezri
The two-week protest movement that rocked cities across Iran earlier this year has largely subsided, but the fallout from the government's harsh response has just begun.
More than 3,700 people were arrested and 23 were killed in sometimes violent nationwide marches that started on Dec. 28, 2017, in response to an austerity budget proposed by President Hasan Rouhani.
At first, the protests were a display of anger by working-class Iranians, in the city of Mashhad, who complained of poverty and inequality. But the unrest soon spread to more than 80 cities. And as thousands of disenchanted citizens widened the agenda to include corruption, human rights, foreign policy and women's empowerment, police began to crack down.
By Jan. 4, riot police using tear gas, batons and bullets seemed to have quelled the protests. Then, on Jan. 14, two detained activists, Saro Ghahremani and Ali Poladi, died in prison, reportedly from torture.
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