Iranian authorities held a commemoration ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday for thousands of people killed in protests that were brutally suppressed by the regime’s security forces last month.

In line with Shiite mourning tradition, the memorial at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque was held to mark 40 days since January 8, the bloodiest day of the crackdown. Nationalist songs and chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” rang through the venue.

Senior officials, including First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Revolutionary Guards commander Esmail Qaani, attended the ceremony, where crowds carried Iranian flags and portraits of those killed in the protests.

The protests erupted in late December over the economy and expanded into the largest anti-government demonstrations Iran has seen since the 1979 revolution that established the Islamic Republic. The regime cracked down on protesters under the cover of an internet blackout that remains in place.

The Islamic Republic has put the death toll in the protests at over 3,000 people, including bystanders and members of security forces, and claimed the killings were due to “terrorist acts” at “foreign-instigated riots” backed by Israel and the US.

International rights groups put the death toll much higher, with US-based group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) saying over 7,000 people were killed, mostly protesters.

Speaking at the ceremony on Thursday, Qaani, the Revolutionary Guards chief, said “those who supported rioters and terrorists are criminals and will face the consequences,” according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

On Friday, Iran said it had established a fact-finding committee to investigate the killings at the protests, while authorities pledged swift trials for those involved in the violence.

State television has in recent weeks aired what it described as confessions by people accused of armed attacks on public property and security personnel. Citing the testimony of former Iranian detainees, HRANA has said the confessions often come after psychological or physical torture, and can have serious consequences, including the death penalty.

The Iranian government ceremony on Tuesday coincided with the second round of indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US in Geneva, amid heightened tensions after Washington beefed up its military presence in the Middle East, threatening last month to strike Iran if it did not stop killing protesters.

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