Iranian protests continue
Iranian students defied warnings from the feared Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia that nationwide protests must end by Sunday, prompting a fierce response from riot police and militiax.
Iranians from all walks of life have been protesting since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police after she was arrested for attire deemed inappropriate.
What began as outrage over Amini’s death on September 16 evolved into one of the toughest challenges to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution, with some protesters calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, the harshest warning yet by Iranian authorities.
Nevertheless, unverified videos on social media showed confrontations between students and riot police and Basij forces in universities all over Iran.
Security forces tried to block students inside university buildings, firing tear gas and in some cases beating protesters with sticks, while the students pushed back, with some chanting “dishonoured Basij get lost” and “Death to Khamenei.”
The Guards and its affiliated Basij force have crushed dissent in the past. They said on Sunday, “seditionists” were insulting them at universities and in the streets, and warned they may use more force if the anti-government unrest continued.
“So far, Basijis have shown restraint and they have been patient,” Khorasan provincial Revolutionary Guards head Brig-g Mohammadreza Mahdavi told IRNA reporters.
“But it will get out of our control if the situation continues.”
Rights NPO HENGAW in Iran’s Kurdistan, where Amini was from, said security forces opened fire at female students in a university at Sanandaj city.
At least 40 journalists have been detained in the past six weeks, according to rights groups, and the number is growing.
What began as outrage over Amini’s death on September 16 evolved into one of the toughest challenges to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution