On Dec. 22, Tehran police announced that they had arrested 230 individuals in raids on two parties marking the Iranian holiday of Yalda, a celebration of the winter solstice. Police said that the parties were of mixed gender and that the guests were dancing and consuming alcohol.
A lot of people reacted to the announcement on social networks, including filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani, who has directed two films that are banned in Iran. Kahani tweeted, “They say that the subjects and characters in my films promote bad behavior and are unrealistic. So, these people you have just arrested are imaginary?”