Power to the People, Anger in the Streets

Saturday, Dec. 7, was national Students' Day in Iran, so Farnaz Shirazi — a middle-aged, middle-class housewife with two sons and a husband who drives a taxi — attended a demonstration outside Tehran University. But instead of listening to impassioned speeches, she found herself running down an alley, trying to get away from police clearing the street with truncheons. "We don't have free speech and we don't have freedom," Shirazi (not her real name) said after stopping to catch her breath. "I have come here to support the students for my children's future."

Since early November, students throughout...