Iran experienced a new day of protests this Saturday marked by street clashes and striking workers, almost four weeks after the death of Mahsa Aminiwhich has unleashed a wave of condemnations in the world ea bloody repression.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, was arrested on September 13 by Tehran’s moral police on charges of failing to comply with Iran’s strict dress code for women, which requires them to wear headscarves.
He died three days later in the hospital and his death sparked protests in the country and solidarity movements around the world.
The demonstrations, the most important in Iran after those of 2019 against the increase in the price of gasoline, were suppressed with blood.
On Friday, Iranian authorities said the young woman’s death was not caused by “beatings” but by the consequences of an illness. Her family, on the other hand, insists that she is in good health.
violent day
Iranians, including young university students and female students, took to the streets again this Saturday, despite ultra-conservative president Ebrahim Raisi telling students from Al-Zahra University in Tehran – exclusively for women – that they would not serve the interests of the “enemy. “.
“The enemy thought he could seek his goals in the university, without realizing that students and professors are awake and will not allow the enemy’s false dreams to come true,” the president said.
Upon his departure, a group of students booed the president, according to videos shown on social networks, the authenticity of which has not been verified.
In a tense atmosphere, some people quarreled with the police, while the first tear gas The streets were beginning to darken.
“Death to the Islamic Republic”, shouted a group of young people in a side street of the University of Tehran, adding “Islamic Republic we do not love you, we do not love you”.
There have been protests in various districts of the capital, as well as in Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz and Tabriz, among other cities.
According to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR, based in Oslo), at least 92 protesters were killed since the beginning of the repression.
In Saqqez, which is located in Western Kurdistan and where Amini came from, a group of female students demonstrated by waving their veils over their heads, according to videos recorded on Saturday, according to reports from the Norwegian-based human rights organization Hengaw. “Woman, life, freedom”, they sang.
In another video widely shared on Twitter, a man appears to have been killed while sitting behind the wheel of his car in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, where gunshots were heard.
The provincial police chief, Ali Azadi, said he was killed “by anti-revolutionary forces”.
disturbing images
In other widely shared shots, angry men appear to take revenge on a member of the Basij militia, an Islamic group working on the orders of the state, by beating him severely.
Another shocking video shows a young woman allegedly shot dead in Mashhad in the northeast. Many users on social networks have compared the images to those of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who became a symbol of the opposition after being shot and killed in the 2009 protests.
The authorities have imposed restrictions on Internet access to prevent gatherings and the dissemination of images of the repression. But the protesters have adopted new techniques to convey their messages.
“We are no longer afraid. We will fight,” reads a large banner posted on an overpass of the Modares highway, which runs through the center of Tehran, according to images verified by the AFP.
In another video, a man is seen changing the phrase “The police are the servant of the people” to “The police are the killer of the people”.
According to the NGO Hengaw, “massive attacks” were also carried out in Saqqez, Sanandaj and Divandarreh, in Kurdistan; and in Mahabad, in the west of the country.
Tehran’s accusations
Iran repeatedly accuses external forces of fueling protests, particularly the United States, its sworn enemy.
Raisi, who in July called for the mobilization of all state institutions to enforce the rules on the hijab, called for unity.
“Despite all the efforts of the wicked, the strong and hardworking people of Islamic Iran will overcome the coming problems with unity and cohesion,” he said on Saturday, according to the presidential website.
Last week, the government announced the arrest of nine foreigners, including France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.
On Friday, France recommended its citizens visiting Iran to leave the country “as quickly as possible”. due to the risks of arbitrary detention.
So did the Netherlands, which advised its citizens not to go to the Islamic Republic.
“The police sometimes act harshly … The Iranian authorities can also arbitrarily detain people of foreign nationality,” he said.
Source: AFP and EFE
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Source: Clarin
