PARIS —
Schoolgirls chanted slogans, workers went on strike, and protesters clashed
violently with security forces across Iran on Saturday, as demonstrations over
the death of
Mahsa Amini entered a fourth week.
اضافة اعلان
Iran said on
Friday an investigation found Amini had died of a longstanding illness rather
than “blows” to the head, despite her family reportedly saying she had
previously been healthy.
But the women-led
protests continued even as ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi posed for
a group photograph with students at Tehran’s all-female Al-Zahra University to
mark the new academic year.
Young women on
the same campus were seen shouting “Death to the oppressor”, said the
Oslo-based group
Iran Human Rights (IHR).
In Amini’s hometown
Saqez, in Kurdistan province, schoolgirls chanted “Woman, life, freedom” and
marched down a street swinging headscarves in the air, in videos the Hengaw
rights group said were recorded on Saturday.
Gruesome videos
were widely shared online of a man who was shot dead while sitting at the wheel
of his car in Sanandaj, Kurdistan’s capital.
The province’s
police chief, Ali Azadi, said he was “killed by anti-revolutionary forces”.
Angry men
appeared to take revenge on a member of the feared Basij militia in Sanandaj,
swarming around him and beating him badly, in a widely shared video.
Another shocking
video shows a young woman said to have been shot dead in Mashhad, in what many
on social media compared to footage of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who
became an enduring symbol of the opposition after being shot dead at protests
in 2009.
‘We will fight’
Despite internet restrictions designed to impede gatherings and stop
images of the crackdown getting out, protesters have adopted new tactics to get
their message across.
“We are not
afraid anymore. We will fight,” said a large banner placed on an overpass of
Tehran’s Modares highway, according to online images verified by AFP.
In other footage,
a man is seen altering the wording of a large government billboard on the same
highway from “The police are the servants of the people” to “The police are the
murderers of the people”.
Hengaw, a
Norway-based Kurdish rights group, said “widespread strikes” took place in
Saqez, Sanandaj, and Divandarreh, in Kurdistan province, as well as Mahabad in
West Azerbaijan.
Street protests
were also reported in many neighborhoods of Tehran — where bazaar shops were
shuttered — as well as in Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz and Tabriz, among other
cities.
IHR says at least
92 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, which has fuelled tensions
between Iran and the West, especially its arch-enemy the United States.
Raisi — who in
July called for the mobilization of all state institutions to enforce hijab
rules — appealed for unity.
“Despite all the
efforts of ill-wishers, the strong and hardworking people of Islamic Iran will
overcome the problems ahead with unity and cohesion,” he was quoted as saying
Saturday on the presidency’s website.
Local media
quoted a municipal official as saying pictures published Friday of fountains in
Tehran appearing to pour blood, after an artist turned the water red to reflect
the crackdown, were false and there was “no change in color”.
‘Blind eye’
Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of stirring up the protests,
and last week announced that nine foreign nationals — including from France,
Germany, Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands — had been arrested.
On Friday, France
advised its nationals visiting Iran to “leave the country as soon as possible”,
citing the risk of arbitrary detention.
The
Netherlands advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Iran or to leave when they can do
so safely.
“There may be
demonstrations which can turn violent. The police sometimes act harshly ...
authorities can also arbitrarily detain people with a foreign nationality,” it
said.
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