Iran's protests against Mahsa Amini's death continue despite crackdown

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's ‘morality police’, in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. (WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

Videos on social media showed tanks being deployed to Kurdish districts, which have been a focal focus of the assault on rallies after Mahsa Amini's death in detention. Yesterday, clashes between protestors and security police continued across Iran.

Since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died while being imprisoned by Tehran's morality police for "inappropriate attire" on September 16, protests calling for the overthrow of the clerical system have swept Iran.

Even though observers do not believe the unrest, which is now in its fourth week, is close to toppling the government, the demonstrations represent one of the most audacious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the revolution of 1979, with reports of strikes spreading to the vital energy sector.

The government is conducting a deadly crackdown. Social internet videos depicted trucks transporting dark green tanks to Kurdish regions, heightening the stakes of the revolt. Reuters was unable to confirm the video footage.

Due to Amini's ethnic origin, tensions have been particularly severe in Kurdish districts. Human rights organizations assert that Iran's more than 10 million Kurds have been mistreated for decades; the Islamic Republic denies this.

The Hengaw human rights group reported, "intense conflict" between protestors and security personnel in Sanandaj, Baneh, and Saqez, where Amini was buried last month, on Tuesday.

Henggew reported that protesters in Saqez torched a statue of local Revolutionary Guards Corps members.

In video footage from Sanandaj uploaded on the well-following Twitter account group Tavsir1500, gunfire and women's screams could be heard. Reuters was unable to independently authenticate the Hengaw or Tasvir1500 footage.

According to rights groups, at least 185 people, including 19 juveniles, have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and thousands have been imprisoned by security forces. More than twenty members of the security forces have been killed, according to the authorities.

The Iranian government has stated that it will probe civilian deaths.

They have blamed a variety of adversaries, notably armed Iranian Kurdish rebels, for the carnage, with the Revolutionary Guards repeatedly bombing their facilities in neighboring Iraq during the most recent turmoil.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi reaffirmed charges that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups supported the demonstrations and stated that security forces would "neutralize the desperate anti-revolutionary effort."

Energy industry

Workers protested at the Abadan oil refinery, Kangan, and the Bushehr petrochemical factory for a second day on Tuesday, according to the Twitter account of Tavsir1500.

Videos uploaded to the account depicted a small number of workers yelling "Death to the dictator" about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A regional official stated that the workers at the Assaluye plant were protesting a salary issue and not Amini's murder.

According to Iran's Young Journalists Club News Telegram account, according to Governor Ali Hashemi, some Iranians attempted to hijack the workers' rallies by chanting anti-government slogans.

Four decades ago, large demonstrations and strikes by oil workers and bazaar merchants helped catapult the Shiah clerics to power during the Iranian revolution.

Currently, dozens of universities are on strike, with students playing a central role in the protests.

In various Tehran neighborhoods, including Shahrak'e Gharb and Narmak, witnesses reported hearing "Death to Khamenei" screamed from rooftops after dark. Social media videos depicted violent protests in the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Qom, with protesters yelling and throwing rocks at security personnel.

The crackdown on protestors has spurred several Western nations to impose additional sanctions on Iran, heightening diplomatic tensions at a time when negotiations to resuscitate Tehran's 2015 nuclear agreement with international powers have stalled.

The French foreign minister announced yesterday that five of his countrymen were being held in Iran and that the European Union had agreed on the technical details of imposing sanctions on Tehran, which will go into effect the following week.

France hit out against Iran on October 6, accusing it of "dictatorial practices" and seizing its citizens in response to the broadcast of a film in which a French couple appeared to admit to espionage.

Publish : 2022-10-12 10:49:00

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