Around Enghelab Square, bookshops, small coffee houses, and traditional soup restaurants are tucked away behind makeshift tents draped in black cloth and adorned with Muharram mourning symbols and political placards.
The placards express support for Mojtaba Khamenei and opposition to the United States, Israel, and anyone perceived as seeking accommodation with what they call the “Arrogant Power,” a reference to the United States. They also invoke the Palestinian cause and call for continued support for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and other regional allies.
Sitting on the balcony of a coffee house with three former protesters, I look down at a sealed branch of Lamiz Coffee. On the western side of the square, I can see anti-riot units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and their distinctive red motorcycles, but I do not dare take a photograph with my mobile phone.
The coffee house where we are sitting used to be packed with students from the nearby University of Tehran. One of the university’s dormitories stands less than twenty metres away.
Ali, 29, points towards the red motorcycles.
