A group of conservative activists wrote an open letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, criticizing him for calling the protesters “thugs” and warned about the toppling of the regime.

The letter signed by over 100 conservative university students and professors published on the Telegram channel of Sadegh Zibakalam criticized labeling the protesters as thugs and said it caused the security institutions to disregard the human rights of the protesters and add flames to the fire of public outrage.

The letter goes on to say that the image that the suppression of the protests in November broadcasted to the world was that “if unhappy citizens come to the streets and express their anger, they have to expect our bullets.”

The signatories called the unofficial numbers of the killed protesters “shocking and disastrous” and demanded the real number of casualties and those arrested to be released without forcing their families into silence or denial.

“This is the least responsibility that a political regime has to its people, to answer for the spilled blood,” said the letter.

They also warned that if the Islamic Republic does not show “a serious desire to understand people’s voice and pain and to recognize their right to protest, there will be nothing left from the regime’s legitimacy.”