Tensions are rising between Iran and the major Western powers denouncing the deadly repression of the demonstrations which have taken place every night for ten days all over the country against the death of the young Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality police.
According to a non-detailed official Iranian report, including demonstrators and security forces, 41 people were killed and more than a thousand arrested during these demonstrations triggered by the death of this 22-year-old woman arrested for “wearing inappropriate clothing in Iran where the dress code for women is strict, in particular the wearing of the Islamic veil.
Angry demonstrations erupted again on Sunday evening for the tenth consecutive night in the Islamic Republic where rallies begin after the working day. In Tehran, crowds called for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, shouting “death to the dictator”, according to footage released by the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights.
“Woman, Life, Freedom! “, chanted protesters; women removed and threw their headscarves into a fire or symbolically cut their hair, encouraged by the crowd.
“Unjustifiable and unacceptable”
In the north of the country, some 450 “rioters” have been arrested in the province of Mazandaran alone, Attorney General Mohammad Karimi said on Monday, according to the official Irna news agency, two days after the arrest of more than 700 people. in the neighboring province of Gilan.
The Tasnim news agency on Monday published around 20 photos of “riot leaders” including women, taken in the holy city of Qom, indicating that the security forces were calling on citizens to “identify them and inform the authorities”.
The European Union denounced the “widespread and disproportionate use of force” by the Iranian authorities against “non-violent” demonstrators, judging that the violent repression was “unjustifiable and unacceptable”, in a statement Sunday by the head of diplomacy of the EU, Josep Borrell.
Two days before, the American president, Joe Biden, said he was in solidarity with the “brave women of Iran” and denounced the violent repression of the demonstrations at the rostrum of the UN.
On Monday, the German government summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin for a “discussion” over the crackdown on the protests.
During the protests, the largest in Iran in nearly three years, security forces fired pellets and live ammunition at participants, who threw rocks, set fire to police cars and set fire to buildings. public buildings, according to human rights groups.
The NGO IHR reported at least 57 protesters killed but observed that its information was limited due to Internet shutdowns, access to which is restricted by the authorities, and the blocking of WhatsApp and Instagram, after those from Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and other social networks.
The repression could intensify after the declarations of the head of the Iranian judiciary who called on Sunday not to show “no indulgence” vis-à-vis the demonstrators, echoing the positions of the ultra-conservative president, Ebrahim Raïsi, asking the authorities to act “firmly”.
Calls for boycotts
Last weekend, demonstrations of solidarity took place in cities around the world. In Paris and London, the rallies degenerated into clashes with the police when participants tried to approach Iranian embassies.
Iran has blamed the protest movement in the country on “foreign conspiracies”, pointing the finger at its sworn enemy, the United States, and its allies.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticized the interventionist approach of the United States in Iran’s affairs, accusing it of supporting “the rioters”.
Pro-government organizations have held large rallies in support of the compulsory wearing of the Islamic headscarf, one of which took place in Tehran’s Revolution Square on Sunday. “Martyrs died to put this scarf on our heads,” said Nafiseh, a 28-year-old protester.
The reformist party of the “People’s Union of Islamic Iran” called on the state to cancel the obligation to wear the Islamic veil and to release those arrested.
According to the IHR, Iranian teachers’ unions have called on staff and students to boycott classes on Monday and Wednesday in support of the protests.