Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi said Wednesday that protests which have gripped his country in recent days aimed "to move history forward".

"Shared pain has now become a cry in the street," said the director who won the Cannes Film festival's top prize this year and has been nominated for an Oscar for his film "It Was Just an Accident".

"When there is nothing left to lose, fear falls away. Voices unite, the silence is........

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