BERLIN/DUBAI (Reuters) – The unrest in Iran sparked by the death of Mercer Amini in police custody has entered its sixth week despite a deadly state crackdown.
The protests have posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical leaders since the 1979 revolution, but not enough to overthrow a government that deployed a powerful security apparatus to quell unrest. Even if you couldn’t see it.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish man, died in moral police custody after being detained for being “improperly dressed.” Protests erupted at her funeral on Sept. 17 in the Kurdish town of Saqez before spreading across Iran. Rights groups said more than 200 of her people were killed in the crackdown.
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Women have played an important role by waving and burning the veil. The deaths of several teenage girls who were reportedly killed during protests have sparked further outrage.
In Berlin, police estimated that 80,000 people took part in the march, with protesters waving Iranian flags and holding banners reading “Women, Life, Freedom”. , Canada and the entire European Union.
“From Zahedan to Tehran, I will give my life for Iran,” human rights activist Fariba Baluch said after giving a speech at a rally in Berlin, referring to Iranian cities wiped out by protests. replied, “Death to Khamenei,” referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Anti-government activists said the march in Berlin was the largest demonstration ever against the Islamic Republic by Iranians abroad.
“I feel so good because I am here[to say]’We are with you, all Iranians.’ I am Masa Amini’s voice.”
Videos posted on social media, which Reuters could not independently verify, show ongoing protests in several cities, including Tehran, northeast Mashhad, northwest Mahabad, Dezful in the southwest, and many universities across the country. showed that
The video showed protesters chanting in Sadegye district, western Tehran, and setting fires in the streets of the capital’s Lazal district. Another video showed cars in Mashhad honking their horns and demonstrators chanting “death to the dictator”.
A social media video, said to be from Dezful, showed youths confronting police in the predominantly Arab ethnic province of oil-rich Khuzestan on the Iraqi border, chanting “freedom, freedom”. , freedom,” he chanted.
“Final Warning”
Ayatollah Khamenei warned against thinking the Islamic Republic could be uprooted, accusing its opponents of fomenting unrest. State television reported the deaths of at least 26 of his security forces.
Some of the deadliest insecurity are home to ethnic minorities with longstanding grievances against the state.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Saturday accused a leading Sunni cleric of agitation against the Islamic Republic, after holding officials, including Khamenei, responsible for the deaths of dozens in Zahedan last month. He warned of the potential for great casualties.
Amnesty International said security forces killed at least 66 people in a crackdown after Friday prayers in Zahedan on September 30.
Moravi Abdulhamid, Zahedan’s main Sunni cleric, said in a sermon on Friday that officials, including Khamenei, the head of the Shia-dominated state, said of the Sept. 30 killing “before God.” I am responsible for this,” he said. He described the killing as a massacre, stating that bullets were fired to the head and chest.
A brief statement from Sepanews, the official Revolutionary Guard news site, said:
State media reported that “unidentified gunmen” opened fire on a police station during the Sept. 30 riots, and that security forces resumed firing.
The Revolutionary Guard said five members and a volunteer Basij militia were killed in the Sept. 30 riots. Authorities blamed the Baluch militant group. Neither that group nor any other faction claimed a role.
The protests were fueled by allegations that a local teenage girl had been raped by a police officer. Officials said the incident was under investigation.
Deputy Interior Minister for Security Majid Mir Ahmadi said calm had returned after protests erupted again in Zahedan on Friday, state news agency IRNA reported.
He said 150 “thugs attacked public property and Sunni shops.”
Rights groups say the government has long discriminated against minorities, including Kurds.
The state has denied the accusations of discrimination.
In Iran’s Kurdish region, a video posted online on Saturday showed shopkeepers going on strike in several cities in the northwestern Kurdish region, including Sanandaj, Saqez and Bukan.
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Reported by Victoria Waldersee, Leon Malherbe and Oliver Denzer in Dubai Newsroom and Berlin. Written by Tom Perry.Editing by Alex Richardson and Christina Fincher
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