The Iranians returned to the streets this Tuesday, for the 12th consecutive night, despite the strong repression that has already caused dozens of deaths, in protest at the death of the young Masha Amini, detained by the morality police.
Despite international calls to end the use of force against protesters, the Iranian government has stood firm in the face of the protests, accusing the participants of being “rioters” and “undermining public safety and property.”
According to the latest report released Tuesday by the Iranian news agency Fars, “about 60 people have died” since the beginning of the demonstrations on September 16.
Police, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said 10 policemen had been killed, but it was not clear if they were among the 60 killed.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo, recorded “at least 76 dead” on Monday night, including “six women and four children.”
The IHR revealed that it also obtained “videos and death certificates confirming the firing of live ammunition at protesters.”
The protests have been taking place every night since September 16, when Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, died in hospital three days after being arrested in Tehran for violating a strict dress code for women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that they must cover their hair. in public.
According to the opposition ‘media’, based outside Iran, the protests resumed on Tuesday night in several cities.
Activists have warned that interruptions in Internet connections are making it increasingly difficult to transmit images.
In a video shared online by the opposition Manoto TV channel, a woman is shown unveiled and waving her arms in Tehran’s Narmak district.
In Sanandaj, capital of the northwestern province of Kurdistan, where Mahsa Amini is from, women are seen taking off their scarves, while in Shiraz, in the south, a man burns a picture with the image of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as Reported by London-based Iran International TV.
To limit the protests, the authorities have blocked access to social networks such as Instagram and WhatsApp in Iran and internet connections have been interrupted.
Women are at the forefront of protests in Iran, and since the beginning of the demonstrations, they have been seen in various videos released by NGOs or activists removing their veils, climbing on car roofs or dancing.
Other videos in recent days showed police beating protesters with batons and students smashing large images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor, Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
According to human rights defenders, police also fired bullets and live ammunition at protesters, who threw stones, set fire to police vehicles and set fire to public buildings.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi accused protesters of destroying 72 ambulances. The opposition in exile accuses the authorities of using ambulances to transport the security forces.
Iranian authorities reported Tuesday that they have detained more than 1,200 people, most of them in northern Iran, since the start of the protests, also denouncing “foreign influence” at the origin of the protests.
Western countries, the UN and international NGOs have called on Iran to end the crackdown. The protests are the largest since November 2019, caused by the increase in gasoline prices in Iran, which have been harshly repressed, with a result of 230 deaths according to an official report and more than 300 according to Amnesty International.
Source: TSF
