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Here's What Makes Iran's Anti-Regime Protests Different This Time

The scholar Farideh Farhi examines why this fresh round of Iranian unrest is unlike the others.
A protester chants slogans against the Iranian government outside the European Union Council in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday.

The protests that began last week in Iran are different from most unrest that has previously roiled the country since its 1979 revolution.

They have covered more geography, engulfing small and midsize cities across the country. But they also have reportedly drawn smaller turnouts than the massive 2009 election protests in Tehran. Although more information is needed about the makeup of the demonstrators, significant differences have emerged. Iranian reformists and middle-class residents in large urban areas are reported

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