Former Crown Prince has also said, “My new year’s wish is witnessing the end of devastation, drought and water shortage, celebrating together the dawn of joy and reconstruction on our homeland’s pure soil.” Anti-Islamic Republic rallies and demonstrations that broke out on December 28 and persisted for more than ten days were combined with chanting slogans in support of the Pahlavi royal dynasty, particularly its founder, Reza Shah. The demonstrations, that started in Shi’ites’ holy city of Mashhad and soon spread to more than 100 other cities across, were ruthlessly suppressed, with more than 25 dead and over 5000 detentions. Referring to the protests and those who lost their lives, Prince Reza has insisted, “At the end of a winter that its Daymah (month coinciding with late December and early January) heralded the blooming spring, my heart is with those who departed to let us remain.”
