Iran’s Islamic Revolution celebrations muted by Covid

Tehran, Feb 11 (EFE).- Motorbike rallies, flag-burning and allusions to the nuclear deal were the stars of the show during marches to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran on Friday, which took place under the shadow of Covid-19.

State media said hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country for the annual march marking the 1979 revolution, which deposed the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and replaced him with a theocratic regime led by Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Although participants usually attend the rally on foot, this year more people opted to remain in their cars or atop motorcycles due to a recent rise in Covid-19 cases.

The blaring of car horns provided the soundtrack to the jovial atmosphere as marchers brandished Iranian flags and balloons while others torched United States and Israeli flags.

“Death to America, death to Israel,” blazoned some of the placards held aloft during the event, as has become tradition.

This year some demonstrators turned their attention to the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the international community to revive the floundering 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Tehran scale down much of its atomic program in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

“No compromise, no sanctions,” read one of the slogans.

The anniversary came round this year during a sixth wave of Covid-19 in the country, driven by the Omicron variant.

Since the beginning of the month, the number of daily Covid deaths on average has risen from 50 to 130. EFE

ar-jlr/jt/ks