Anti-Iranian protests continue following Mahsa Amini’s murder At the hands of the police forces, for the sixth consecutive day, while the number of deaths increases daily.
The agency “AFP” quoted the “Iran Human Rights Organization” as confirming today that at least 31 civilians have been killed since the protests erupted in Iran six days ago.
For its part, Iran’s state television put the death toll at 17, “including demonstrators and two policemen.”
For its part, official Iranian news agencies reported that three policemen were stabbed or shot dead Wednesday in Tabriz (northwest), Mashhad (northeast) and Qazvin (central), following they “were summoned to confront rioters,” and a member of the security forces was killed Tuesday. During demonstrations in Shiraz (center).
Dozens of large Iranian cities rose up, such as Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad and Hamadan, in addition to the Kurdish cities, and tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets, shouting once morest the regime and demanding its departure.
Videos circulated extensively on social media showed that among the protesters, women took off their headscarves and threw them into fires that lit the road, while others cut their hair short in a symbolic move. “No to the veil, no to the turban, yes to freedom and equality,” chants were heard among the demonstrators in Tehran.
Demonstrations took place in several cities, especially in northern Iran, on Wednesday night, for the fifth night in a row, and activists reported clashes in cities including Urmia and Sardasht. Iranian demonstrators also burned the largest picture of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran, in addition to burning the Iranian flag, while chanting anti-regime slogans.
The protests began on Wednesday with demonstrations in Iranian universities, such as Al-Zahra University in Tehran and Tabriz University in the north of the country.
At the same time, the Mehr News Agency reported that for the first time the Special Women’s Unit forces were used to suppress demonstrators in the current protests.
Videos on social media showed tens of thousands of citizens leaving in various Iranian cities, despite the severe repression of the security forces, who used live bullets and gas to disperse the protesters.
It seemed remarkable that most of the slogans used by the demonstrators were calling for “the fall of the dictator” and “death to the dictator,” in reference to the Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, while some demonstrators burned his pictures.
Most of the cities witnessed widespread clashes with the security forces, and the demonstrators burned several police buses and ambulances that the security forces used to travel to hide among the demonstrators, or the detainees were transferred to detention centers.
The videos also showed the security forces fleeing from several places following they were pelted with stones by the demonstrators, while the protesters in the city of “Amal” in northern Iran set fire to the building of the mayor of the city.
According to information received from Iran, the Internet service is facing severe weakness or complete interruption in most of the Iranian cities and provinces, which have been witnessing massive protests for 5 days, while activists reported that the “Instagram” application has been suspended from working in Iran, which is the only application allowed by the Iranian authorities.
In it, human rights organizations confirmed earlier, that at least 8 protesters were killed, as a result of the security forces’ assault and use of tear gas and live bullets to disperse the demonstrators.
Public anger has exploded in the street since the authorities announced, on Friday, the death of the 22-year-old woman from the Kurdistan region in northwestern Iran, who was arrested on September 13 in Tehran on the pretext of wearing “indecent clothes”.
Activists say that Mahsa, whose Kurdish name is Zina, was hit in the head during her detention, which is denied by the Iranian authorities, who announced the opening of an investigation into the incident.
