Editing Iranian Green Movement (section)

== Development of the Green Movement ==
The Green Movement spread throughout the nation as a non-violent protest movement, bringing about hope of more democratization. Protests lasted all through the fall of 2009, with big events happening on national holidays. On [[Quds Day]] (18 September), the anniversary of the US Embassy takeover (4 November), National Students Day (7 December) and the day of [[Hussein-Ali Montazeri|Grand Ayatollah Montazeri]]'s death (19 December) there were turnouts of thousands of people.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Milani |first=Abbas |date=2010-10-06 |title=The Green Movement |url=https://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/green-movement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028102837/http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/green-movement |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 October 2010 |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=The Iran Primer - United States Institute of Peace}}</ref> On the holy day of [[Ashura]] (7 December), the [[Ashura protests|protests]] turned more violent as hundreds of thousands took to the streets once again, the highest turnout since June, and clashed with state security forces. Hundreds of people were arrested and at least 15 people died.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Putz |first=Ulrike |date=2009-12-28 |title=Violence in Tehran: Iranian Demonstrators Put the Regime on the Defensive |language=en |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/violence-in-tehran-iranian-demonstrators-put-the-regime-on-the-defensive-a-669317.html |access-date=2022-05-17 |issn=2195-1349}}</ref> Among them was the 35 year-old nephew of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, [[Death of Seyed Ali Mousavi|Seyed Ali Mousavi]].{{fact|date=April 2025}}

Within a year, the Green Movement had trouble with retaining its relevance. The number of public demonstrations started to decrease because of the harsh reactions by the state.<ref name=":1" /> Security forces attacked protesters in the streets and imprisoned activists as well as politicians.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/853494427 |title=Wired citizenship : youth learning and activism in the Middle East |date=2014 |others=Linda Herrera |isbn=978-0-415-85393-4 |location=New York |oclc=853494427}}</ref> Mousavi and Karroubi were placed under house arrest in 2010, which created even more difficulties for the Green Movement to stay organized.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Niakooee |first=Seyed Amir |date=2020-01-23 |title=Explaining the Crisis of the Green Movement in Iran (2009-2017) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17419166.2020.1716733 |journal=Democracy and Security |language=en |pages=1–31 |doi=10.1080/17419166.2020.1716733 |s2cid=212922821 |issn=1741-9166}}</ref>

Access to the Internet and social media as well as the possibility to send text messages was regularly restricted by the government, making it difficult for further protests to materialize.<ref name=":3" /> The movement later became less confrontational in an effort to influence the next presidential elections and several groups linked to the Green Movement supported the campaign of Hassan Rouhani in 2014. Following his victory, slogans and symbols that emerged during the protests in 2009 were used again by his supporters.<ref name=":2" />