Security forces in Rasht, a city near the Caspian Sea about 200 miles northwest of
Tehran, opened fire on protesters during unrest earlier this month as a blaze ripped through the city’s historic bazaar, according to witness accounts, video analysis and medical data reviewed by The Washington Post. The violence unfolded during a period of
nationwide demonstrations, communications blackouts, and an intensified state response, with dozens reported killed in the city and extensive destruction to shops and surrounding streets.
The bloodshed followed days of growing protest in Rasht against the Iranian government, including the widespread closure of shops by merchants in the city’s historic bazaar.
Protests across Iran first erupted on December 28 in Tehran, prompted by the collapse of the country’s currency. Demonstrations spread nationwide, with participants expanding their demands to call for a complete change in Iran’s government.
In Rasht, smaller gatherings took place in early January before intensifying when bazaar shop owners began striking in solidarity, two residents told The Post. Like others interviewed, they spoke anonymously for fear of reprisals.
“My friends who are store owners told me that intelligence officers would call them and try to pressure them to re-open their shops and end the strike. There was tension between the bazaar and the state,” said Saman.
Another resident said a business owner near the bazaar reported that members of the Basij paramilitary force and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), involved in suppressing
protests, had threatened striking shopkeepers and ordered them to reopen. The merchants refused and were told they would “badly regret” it, the resident said.
On Wednesday, January 7, dozens marched through the bazaar clapping and chanting, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. We are all in this together,” according to a social media video verified by The Post.
Security forces open fire as crowds swell
By the evening of Thursday, January 8, protests in Rasht had reached a critical stage.
Demonstrators filled streets in the south of the city and moved toward the centre, halting traffic and surrounding vehicles as horns sounded, according to verified videos.
Others walked south along Takhti Street toward the bazaar, according to a written account from a shop owner shared with the news outlet by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center and supported by verified footage.
“There was a flood of people coming from every street that connected to the main road,” the person said in the written account.
“The crowd was so massive that at every street or alley we passed, more people kept joining us,” said another resident, who reported seeing families and people of all ages. He said the situation was relatively calm until after 8:30 p.m., when security forces began shooting directly at people.
One protester said tear gas was initially used as the crowd neared the bazaar, but live fire followed when demonstrators continued advancing. People fell to the ground, he said in the account provided by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center.
In another area northeast of the bazaar, near a government building, a smaller group crossed a road median amid debris and small fires, one video shows. Gunfire then rang out. The person filming said, “They’re shooting a young person. They hit their leg. They just shot a young person! Rasht, Provincial Governorate. We’ve seen nearly eight or 10 people killed or injured in the last five minutes. The Guard, the Guard is shooting,” referring to the IRGC.
Fire engulfs bazaar as people try to flee
The bazaar, long a centre of life in Rasht and known for its culinary and cultural offerings, was engulfed by flames that spread to nearby buildings and cars, according to geolocated videos.
Saman said he saw the market catch fire around 9 p.m. Another protester said some demonstrators had taken shelter inside from gunfire when the blaze began. It was not immediately clear how the fire started or spread. Two witnesses said strong, hot winds that night appeared to drive the flames.
After the open-air market caught fire, protesters trying to escape through its maze of alleys were met by uniformed riot police and plainclothes officers on motorcycles and on foot, armed with shotguns and assault rifles, according to one protester. Another resident said security forces were firing directly at people.
“Security forces were shooting with Kalashnikovs into the bazaar,” Saman said. “It was terrifying. They killed so many people, even people escaping.”
He said security forces with covered faces fired at those fleeing the blaze. “Anyone that was coming out of the bazaar was under barrage. [Security forces] were shooting at them from Shariati Street,” he said, adding that he knew four people shot dead that night.
Another protester described a similar scene in an account shared via the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center. “My contemporaries were massacred before my eyes,” he said.
A Rasht university student told the outlet they saw security forces shoot fellow students during the fire. “People didn’t know whether to run or to rush toward the security forces. Everything felt apocalyptic,” the student said.
Fire response delayed and widespread damage
Two witnesses said security forces blocked fire trucks from responding immediately. Saman said engines were not allowed to act until after 1 a.m.
A state television broadcast at 12:52 a.m. on January 9 showed flames still burning in the background. Additional videos show fire still towering above the bazaar when fire trucks eventually arrived, while pedestrians moved past burned debris along Shariati Street.
More than 30 businesses burned inside the bazaar or along Shariati Street, leaving the market reduced to a grey husk, according to The Post’s review of visual material.
Casualty figures and competing narratives
The media outlet analysed more than 40 photos and videos and gathered six witness and resident testimonies to reconstruct events in Rasht. With internet and telephone services shut down, few detailed accounts have emerged from Iran, particularly outside Tehran.
Data collected by medical staff in and around Rasht and shared with the media through an intermediary show more than 80 fatalities at two hospitals during the two days when violence peaked. The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency has documented 392 deaths in Rasht, virtually all on or after January 8, when the communications blackout began.
Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency said the “regime’s ill-wishers and rioters” had attacked the bazaar and nearby mosques, blaming the United States and Israel for sending “their mercenaries to kill this bazaar and its people.”
The events in Rasht formed part of a broader crackdown by security forces in dozens of towns and cities as authorities moved to suppress mass protests across Iran.
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