At least eight people have been killed in the crackdown on growing protests in Iran after the death of a young woman arrested by vice 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 (north-west), was arrested on September 13 in Tehran for “wearing inappropriate clothes” by the vice 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.
Burnt scarves
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 called “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.
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 spoke on Wednesday of the possibility of Internet access restrictions in the country during the protests “due to security concerns”, he said, quoted by the ISNA news agency.
Reacting to international condemnations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Tuesday evening condemned what he called “foreign interventionist positions”.
These demonstrations constitute “a very significant shock” in Iran, “it is a societal crisis”, declared to AFP David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at Iris, specialist in Iran.
“There is a disconnect between the authorities stuck on their DNA from the 1979 Islamic revolution and an increasingly secularized society. It is a whole project of society that is called into question. There is a wavering among the authorities on the procedure to follow vis-à-vis this movement, ”explained the researcher.
Support in Turkey
Separately, around 100 people gathered in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday – where protests are usually suppressed – to express anger and support for Iranian women.
According to an AFP photographer present, Turks and Iranians gathered in front of the Iranian consulate, brandishing portraits of the 22-year-old young woman who died last week.
“For Mahsa Amini, in Iran, in Turkey and everywhere we protest for our freedom”, said the call for the rally, repeated on the placards and the banners.
A young brunette woman cut her long hair in front of the cameras, as did several Turkish feminist activists, live on Twitter, saying that “the women who resist in Iran will never be alone”.
A large police force had been deployed but did not intervene.
On Tuesday evening, a similar gathering of a few dozen people on the main shopping street Istiqlal, in the heart of Istanbul, had been calmly dispersed by the police.