Opposition groups to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary regime called for massive protests and unrest on February 11, 2010, the anniversary of the overthrow of the government of the Shah in 1979. The messages were disseminated via the web, on blogs and opposition group websites. The celebrations will conclude with a big political gathering in Azadi Square, where the opposition wants to stage the most massive protests.
In the past, the Iranian government has fought such calls for protest by implementing corrupting software into its own websites that would cause opposition websites to crash. The Iranian government is still heavily censoring opposition websites today. The only way to read such websites is through a proxy server. According to the popular opposition website, Balatrin.com the Iranian government attempted to crash Balatrin.com through pagerreboot, which sent hundreds of messages to Balatrin when a user would visit the official government website Fars News.
The Iranian government has promised a tough response to any unrest. The last protests, on December 27th, concluded in unprecedented blood shed and violence. In addition, five protestors were put on trial, charged with the crime “Moharebeh”, which is punishable by death.