Mr. Mogouei, whose father and brother are high-ranking members of the Guard, criticized the violence against protesters: riot police fired into the crowd; a member of the security forces pulling a woman by the hair and hitting her head with a truncheon; an actress leaving an interrogation with a bruised face.
In many cases, protesters retaliated, throwing rocks at security forces, burning their cars and beating officers, according to witnesses and videos posted on social media.
Mr. Mogouei said that on October 2 in Tehran, plainclothes militiamen fired rubber bullets at him and hit him so hard in the head that he passed out, all because he had tried to to intervene to protect a young demonstrator.
So far, protesters have found ways to confuse the security services.
The protests are small crowds and scattered across the country but widespread, making it difficult for the government to mount a broad and definitive response. This has allowed the movement to continue, but it may struggle to sustain it if it does not develop clear leadership and clear, unified goals, said Sanam Vakil, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.
Recent history in the Middle East provides multiple examples of similar grassroots movements crushed by repressive states. Successful pro-democracy uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have been hijacked by strong presidents, Yemen has crumbled into civil war, and Syria has illustrated the vast carnage a regime can inflict on its people to ensure its survival. .
Iran’s security services could also use even more force if they fear their existence is in jeopardy. But this prospect makes some members of the ruling system uneasy.
“We tell officials in meetings that if you don’t change course and realize that the legitimacy of the system is at stake, the only way for the Islamic Republic to stay in power is to kill several hundred people every few months” , Gheis Ghoreishi, an analyst who has advised the government, told The New York Times.