A Tehran protester was filmed sitting in the street and facing down police on motorbikes

Shopkeepers and traders walk over a bridge during a protest against the economic conditions and Iran's embattled currency in Tehran. (Photo / Handout, Fars News Agency, AFP

A video of a protester sitting in the street and facing down police on motorbikes during demonstrations that erupted in Tehran in recent days has gone viral on social media, with some observers calling it Iran’s “Tiananmen moment”.

Protesters including shopkeepers and university students have been rallying against economic hardship in Iran since Sunday local time.

The viral footage showed a person sitting cross-legged on the road with their head bowed before more than 20 police officers on motorbikes, wearing helmets and dressed all in black.

Behind the protester a crowd of people run to escape clouds of tear gas, the footage showed.

Some internet users compared the person to the man who faced a column of tanks in Beijing during the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 following demonstrations demanding greater political freedoms.

An AFP investigation found that the Iranian video was posted on social media at around 1330 GMT on Monday (2.30am yesterday NZT), day two of the protests that began at Tehran’s largest mobile phone market before spreading.

AFP was able to confirm that the video was shot on Jomhouri Avenue in central Tehran, near the mobile phone shopping centre.

A video shared with Iran International showed one protester sitting in the middle of a street in Tehran and refusing to move as motorbike-riding security forces moved in on demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/uic3kBOoPv

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2025

The video and screenshots of the scene have since garnered thousands of likes on Instagram and other social media networks.

International media outlets also used the image to illustrate the spontaneous demonstrations that erupted in Iran in protest against economic hardships and sharp swings in Iran’s embattled currency.

The Iranian rial has dropped against the dollar and other world currencies, forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.

When the protests erupted, the United States dollar was trading at around 1.42 million rials, compared to 820,000 rials a year ago.

-Agence France-Presse