In an act of political protest, hackers took control of airport electronic sign boards at the city of Mashad in Iran Thursday evening May 24.

Social media reports from Mashad posted pictures of defaced arrival and departure monitors at the city’s airport showing a statement protesting against Iran’s military presence in the Middle East.

Hackers protested to “wasting Iranians lives and financial resources in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC),” according to a statement on the boards.

A group introducing itself as Tapandegan (Palpitaters) expressed support for the people of Kazeroon, a city in Fars Province, where people have been demonstrating against the state for months.

The group also hacked the email of Mashad airport civil aviation head, Mohsen Eidizadeh and sent the news of its hack from his account.

Hackers asked passengers to take pictures of the sign boards and post them on social media with the Hashtag “Protests_alloverthecountry” in Persian.

Hundreds of Iranians on Twitter posted pictures of hacked boards. The posts came under pseudonyms such as “Dr Zhivago” and “Godless”, as users inside Iran fear heavy-handed clampdown by the government.

Mashad is the city where massive anti-government demonstrations started on December 28 and spread to over 100 other Iranian cities. It is a religious city where the holy shrine of the 8th Shiite Imam is located. Local authorities and clerics in the city are among the staunchest hardliners.