At least eight people have been killed in the crackdown on protests by women against the wearing of the Islamic veil in Iran. These are increasing after the death of a young woman arrested by the morality police, according to a new report on Wednesday.
These nocturnal demonstrations have spread in the Islamic Republic since the announcement of the death of Mahsa Amini on Friday, to the holy city of Qom, birthplace of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who spoke at an event on Wednesday in Tehran without mentioning protests in the country.
They took place in the streets of fifteen Iranian cities located in the north-west and south of the country, as well as in the capital.
Angry demonstrators blocked traffic there, set fire to garbage cans and police vehicles, threw stones at the security forces and chanted anti-government slogans, according to the official Irna news agency.
Police used tear gas and made arrests to disperse the crowd, the agency said. Men and women, many of whom had taken off their headscarves, gathered in Tehran and other major cities across the country, according to the same source.
“No to the headscarf, no to the turban, yes to freedom and equality!”, shouted protesters in Tehran at a rally whose same slogans were echoed in solidarity demonstrations abroad, including in New York and Istanbul.
Video filmed in the southern city of Shiraz shows security forces opening fire on participants in protests that continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Mahsa Amini, 22, from the Kurdistan region (northwest), was arrested on September 13 in Tehran for “wearing inappropriate clothes” by the morality police, a unit responsible for enforcing the code. strict dress code in the Islamic Republic.
Activists said the young woman had been fatally shot in the head, a claim denied by officials who announced an investigation.
In Iran, women must cover their hair, and the morality police also prohibit them from wearing short coats above the knee, tight pants, jeans with holes and brightly colored outfits.
Women burn their Islamic veils
In addition to the wave of anger triggered in Iran, the announcement of the death of the young woman, whose Kurdish first name is Jhina, aroused strong international condemnation, in particular from the UN, the United States and France.
Reacting to international condemnations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Tuesday evening condemned what he described as “foreign interventionist positions”.
Other video footage shows protesters hitting back at security forces by snatching tear gas canisters from law enforcement and preventing them from making arrests. One of the biggest viral trends on social media is seeing women setting their headscarves on fire.
The power of these images is incredible pic.twitter.com/RQgxuG5q0U
— thomas snegaroff (@thomassnegaroff) September 21, 2022
A Norwegian-based Kurdish advocacy group, Hengaw, said on Wednesday that two more protesters were killed in Iran overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. For their part, the Iranian authorities reported on Wednesday a death toll of six since the start of the demonstrations.
Iranian Telecommunications Minister Issa Zarepour on Wednesday raised the possibility of restrictions on internet access in the country during the protests. “due to security issues”he said, quoted by the ISNA news agency.
Reacting to international condemnations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Tuesday evening condemned what he described as “foreign interventionist positions”.
These events constitute “a very strong shock” in Iran, “It’s a societal crisis”David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at Iris, specialist in Iran, told AFP.
“There is a disconnect between the authorities blocked on their DNA from the Islamic revolution of 1979 and an increasingly secularized society. It is a whole project of society that is called into question. There is a hesitation among the authorities on the way forward with regard to this movement”explained the researcher.