Paris:
Iranian schoolgirls have come to the fore in protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, removing their hijabs and organizing sporadic demonstrations in defiance of the deadly crackdown by security forces.
Amini, 22, was pronounced dead days after the notorious vice squad detained the Iranian Kurd last month for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
Anger flared up at her funeral and spread to become the largest wave of protests to rock Iran in nearly three years, despite the response from security forces that killed dozens and saw hundreds of arrests.
Students gathered over the weekend before being confronted by riot police who cornered them in an underground parking garage of Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology before taking them away.
Since then, schoolgirls have taken up the baton across the country, taking off their headscarves, shouting anti-regime slogans and damaging images of church-state leaders.
“Death to the dictator,” a group of bare-headed girls are heard chanting in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as they force a man, allegedly the headmaster, out of a school in Karaj, west of Tehran, on Monday in a video verified by AFP.
Another group of girls sang “Woman, Life, Freedom!” as they marched through the Karaj neighborhood of Gohardasht.
“These are truly extraordinary scenes. If these protests are going to achieve anything, it will be because of the schoolgirls,” Esfandyar Batmanghelidj of the news and analysis website Bourse & Bazaar tweeted.
‘Deadly force’
Schoolgirls were also seen leaving classrooms and appearing in flash mob protests to avoid detection, in other images shared online.
A rambunctious group of girls yelled “Get lost, Basiji,” referring to the paramilitary forces, at a man standing on a podium in the southern city of Shiraz, in a video shared by the 1500tasvir social media channel.
AFP has not been able to independently verify the images.
But in an apparent admission that schoolgirls were involved in the protests, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri on Wednesday accused the influence of social networks.
“The fact that 16-year-olds are present at today’s events is because of social media,” Montazeri said, according to ISNA news agency.
Education Minister Yousef Nouri said that “the sharp point of the enemy’s attacks is on the universities and scientific and educational environments,” according to the state news agency IRNA.
In an ever-growing crackdown, Iran has rounded up prominent supporters of the movement and blocked access to social media.
On Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the internet shutdown and said it had verified 16 protest videos showing “police and other security forces using excessive and deadly force against protesters” in Tehran and other cities.
These include cases of armed forces “using firearms, such as Kalashnikov-style pistols and rifles,” the rights group said in a statement.
The crackdown “indicates concerted action by the government to crush dissent with cruel disregard for life,” HRW researcher Tara Sepehri Far said in the statement.
The Iranian judiciary, meanwhile, denied that there was any connection between the death of teenager Nika Shahkarami and the protests, after reports that she had been killed by security forces.
Sanctions threaten
At least 92 protesters have been killed in the unrest, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.
Amnesty International has confirmed 53 deaths, although the Fars news agency last week estimated the death toll at “about 60”, while HRW said the number was “probably significantly higher”. At least 12 security personnel have been killed.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested, but the judiciary said more than 620 protesters had been released from prison in Tehran province alone.
Last week, another 63 people were killed when security forces “bloodyly suppressed” a protest over allegations that a regional police chief raped a teenage girl belonging to the Baluch Sunni minority in Zahedan, near Iran’s southeastern border with Pakistan, it said. IHR.
The crackdown has led to worldwide condemnation.
On Tuesday, the European Union joined the United States and warned it was seeking tough new sanctions against Iran over the bloody crackdown.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned the EU to expect “mutual action”.
Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of fueling the unrest.
On Wednesday, it called on British Ambassador Simon Shercliff to listen to a protest over “declarations of interference”.
The turmoil has overshadowed efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the major powers, which had been close to a breakthrough in recent months before stalling again.
But the White House said the “problems with Iran’s behavior” are unrelated to attempts to revive the nuclear deal.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)