Isolation from the world… How do Iranians live in light of the demonstrations and Internet shutdowns?

About 86 million Iranians have been living for several days, almost cut off from the world after the shutdown Internet, no email, text messages or digital apps, while phone communications are poor, in Digital isolation imposed by the government after the start of the protest movement.

An employee at a private Iranian company says in an angry tone to Agence France-Presse: "We come to the office but without internet, I can’t even communicate with my clients"

Poor communications and frequent interruptions

The Iranian authorities cut off Internet services to the population on January 8, which prevented them from sharing information with the world about the ongoing protests that began for reasons of livelihood, before expanding into a movement raising political slogans against the Islamic Republic.

On the other hand, international telephone communications with Iran resumed on Tuesday after being interrupted since Friday, but only from Iran to the outside world rather than the other way around, but it is still poor with frequent outages.

While popular applications such as YouTube, Instagram and Telegram are not available, Iranians can still use the national Internet, where content is filtered.
Taxi apps, delivery services and banking services also continue to operate normally.

Café sidewalks are full during the day

And in Tuesday’s newspapers, the demonstrations took the lead The rally called by the government the day before made front-page headlines, as a newspaper wrote "Kayhan" Maintaining its front page: "Historical humiliation" Which, according to what she says, has been annexed to the United States and Israel.

In Tehran, café sidewalks appear crowded during the day, most stores are open, and the main roads are crowded, giving the capital a semblance of normal life.

But with the arrival of the evening, economic activity slows, and restaurants and shopping centers close their doors, although no curfew has been officially announced.

A waiter in one of the cafés tells Agence France-Presse: "There are many customers when people come to meet each other, but as of six in the evening we have to start closing"

On Tuesday morning, it appeared that fewer members of the security forces were deployed at major intersections in the city than at the end of last week, at the height of the protests.

Accusing America and Israel

In front of the entrance to the University of Tehran, a completely burned ambulance and fire engine appeared.

And on a banner repeating the authorities’ speech, it was written "This car was targeted by agents of the Zionist entity"
Other signs in the city also show pictures of vandalized vehicles, along with the phrase: "These are not demonstrations"On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed before ambassadors in Tehran that 200 stores, 180 ambulances, 53 mosques and buses had been set on fire.

The official media frequently shows pictures of the damage and honors police officers who fell victim. "Terrorism" Which the government says Israel and the United States are behind.

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