Are demonstrations in Iran still occurring

1. What the record shows: mass protests and a violent crackdown through mid‑January

Multiple independent and mainstream outlets documented large demonstrations that began in late December 2025 and continued into mid‑January 2026, accompanied by a harsh security response that included live fire, sniper use and thousands of arrests; human‑rights groups and media described scenes consistent with a nationwide clampdown and significant fatalities ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

2. How the authorities changed the information environment, and why that matters for "still occurring"

The government imposed a near‑total communications blackout and severely restricted reporting during the peak of unrest, which blocked independent documentation of protest size and frequency and hampered outside verification of whether demonstrations persisted after the blackout began — a central reason for uncertainty about whether protests remain large and continuous in late January ^{[5] [2]}.

3. Divergent counts and competing narratives about the protests’ current scale

Estimates of deaths and arrests vary widely across sources — from hundreds reported by rights groups to thousands according to some domestic officials and encyclopedic summaries — and those differences reflect both the information blackout and opposing agendas: the regime portrays the unrest as “terrorism” or foreign‑backed violence, while rights groups and opposition activists document what they call a massacre and call for international action ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

4. Signs of suppression do not equal permanent cessation of dissent

Analysts and institutes monitoring Iranian affairs warned that the state’s militarized response and arrest campaigns have aimed to crush public gatherings, but also noted structural drivers—economic collapse, strikes and political mobilization—that sustain the potential for renewed demonstrations, especially around future mass public occasions like Nowruz (March 20, 2026); such analysis implies demonstrations may be suppressed in waves rather than ended permanently ^{[9] [10] [4]}.

5. What independent monitors and human‑rights groups documented about recent actions

Amnesty International and other investigators published verified videos and eyewitness accounts showing security forces firing from rooftops and using snipers in Tehran and other cities in early January, and reported makeshift morgues and overwhelmed medical facilities — concrete evidence that substantial protest activity and lethal repression were contemporaneous through at least the second week of January ^{[3] [11]}.

6. Official and external signals about present momentum

Some official and foreign‑policy accounts suggested the regime had, by late January, regained control of public spaces enough that broad daily demonstrations were less visible, while others — including opinion pieces and external analysts — argued repression was ongoing and that the movement’s capacity to re‑emerge remained real if and when communications and public gatherings resumed ^{[1] [5]}.

7. Conclusion: direct answer and the limits of available reporting

Directly answering whether demonstrations are still occurring: available reporting supports that large demonstrations and related unrest were active through mid‑January 2026 and that protest activity continued in various forms into mid‑January; however, because of the widespread communications blackout, mass arrests and conflicting official claims, external verification of sustained, large‑scale street protests in late January is limited and contested — sporadic or localized demonstrations and strikes remain plausible, and analysts warn the potential for renewed mass mobilization around key dates ^{[1] [2] [10]}.