In Haft-Hoz Square, the shoppers and commuters that typically fill this bustling commercial hub of eastern Tehran have been replaced by black-clad riot police. At least one masked sniper is visible, perched on top of one of the armoured vehicles that now dot the square.
At the centre of the scene is the charred shell of a municipal bus, burned down in the protests that tore through Iran this month. Draped across its blackened remnants is a banner bearing a blunt message reminding citizens of the cost of the unrest: “This was paid for with your taxes.”
A brutal crackdown has brought weeks of anti-regime demonstrations to an abrupt end, with human rights groups overseas saying thousands were killed. But the scars left by the most severe violence to sweep the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution are still visible across Tehran, a city of 10mn now enveloped by an eerie silence.