Protests escalate after the death of a 22-year-old woman in Iran. Clashes broke out with security forces in the capital Tehran, killing one police officer. A video circulating on social networks also shows young women burning their headscarves.
The protests were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was arrested a week ago by the vice squad for her “un-Islamic outfit”. It is unclear what exactly happened to Amini after her arrest, but she fell into a coma and died in a hospital on Friday. Critics accuse the morality police of using force. Police strongly deny the charges.
‘We take back Iran’
Thousands of people poured onto the streets of Iran in numerous cities on Tuesday evening. In addition to slogans critical of the government, more and more people shouted, “We’re fighting, we’re going to die, we’re going to take back Iran.” Even in the arch-conservative city and Shia center of Qom, young people demonstrated against the Islamic dress code. According to Fars news agency, there have been several arrests.
In the northeastern pilgrimage town of Mashhad, a police officer was set on fire before protesters came to his aid with fire extinguishers, Tasnim news agency reported. The police officer succumbed to his injuries. Four other security forces were injured in clashes with protesters in the city of Shiraz.
On the holiday island of Kish in the Persian Gulf, which is considered particularly quiet, videos of protests were also shared on social media. Videos on social media, the authenticity of which could not be verified, showed protesters beating security forces or women setting fire to their headscarves. The governor of Iran’s Kurdistan province reported three dead protesters on Tuesday, but rejected any intervention by security forces.
Demanded dissolution of the moral police
There are also more and more voices in the country calling for the strict dress code to be relaxed and the government to change course. “A law that the majority of society does not follow must be revised,” former mayor of the capital Tehran and editor of the daily Ham Mihan, Gholam Hussein Karbaschi, 69, said in an interview on Wednesday. In a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi, Elias Hasrati, former MP and head of the newspaper “Etemad”, called for the immediate dissolution of the moral police units.
Sharp words also come from Vienna: “It is the expression of a policy that violates human rights and inhumanity that a young woman is put to death because of an uncovered lock of hair. Human rights are non-negotiable,” University of Applied Sciences Rector Gerald Bast wrote on Wednesday. in a broadcast: “We call on our foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, to officially protest against the actions of the Iranian (police) authorities. The Iranian ambassador should be “quoted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make it clear that the death of Mahsa Amini cannot be accepted in this way”.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
