DUBAI, Oct 13 – Iranian security forces fired several gunshots in Hijab protest areas of the country overnight, deploying shock troops as authorities sought a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Nearly four weeks after Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was detained in Tehran for “improper clothing,” protests show no sign of abating in a bold challenge to Iran’s suppressive clothing rulers for women, even the unrest appear imminent.
The Iranian government has clearly denied the right to choice in clothing for women in the country, even after the protest turned violent in several parts.
The riots underscored pent-up frustrations over freedoms and rights in Iran, echoed by many women. The death of several teenage girls allegedly killed during the demonstration when security forces opened gun-fire in several protests.
Iran has deployed members of the Basij militia, a force that has spearheaded the suppression of popular unrest, in Kurdish areas where seven people were killed overnight in protests.
Videos on social media, which could not be verifyed, showed the Basij beating protesters in Kurdish areas.
Two sources in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, told that Basij members, along with riot police, attacked the protesters.
A witness told that hundreds of security forces and Basij troops had been moved from other provinces to Kurdistan to confront the protesters.
“A few days ago, some Basij members from Sanandaj and Baneh refused to follow orders and shoot people,” the witness said.
“In Saqez, the situation is the worst. These Basiji troops just shoot people, houses, even if there are no protesters there.”
Analysts say Basij volunteers, who are affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guards, may number in the millions, with 1 million active members.
Although the latest protests have been ongoing for weeks, Iranian authorities have experience quelling much longer bouts of unrest. In 2009, nationwide demonstrations that erupted over disputed elections took about six months to finally be brought under control.
While many officials struck a hardline tone, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as questioning whether police should enforce headscarves — a rare criticism of state efforts to introduce the hijab.
Rights groups report more than 200 dead in the crackdown on protests, which have been particularly intense in Kurdish regions where security forces have previously suppressed unrest by the Kurdish minority.
A Sanandaji source told Reuters that riot police were searching houses and arresting dozens of youths, describing the situation as very tense with hundreds of police on the city’s streets.
“We also have information from Baneh and Saqez. They have arrested dozens of young people, including teenagers, since yesterday,” added the source, who declined to be identified due to concerns for his safety.
Rights group Hengaw, which reports on Iran’s Kurdish regions, said protesters in 10 cities faced “intense violence by security forces” on Wednesday night.
In the city of Kermanshah, direct fire by security forces killed two people, Hengaw said. He posted a picture of the body of an 18-year-old man who was said to be one of the dead.
A video posted on social media from Kermanshah late Wednesday showed a fire burning on the road. “Kermanshah is hell, it’s war, it’s war,” a voice is heard.
Three members of the security forces were also killed in Kermanshah and about 40 others were wounded, Hengaw said.
A fourth security force member was killed in Mahabad and security force firing killed another person in Sanandaj.
Officials have denied that security forces fired on protesters and have previously reported around 20 security forces killed during the nationwide unrest.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos and reports.
Iran’s Kurds are part of an ethnic minority spread across several regional states whose aspirations for autonomy have also led to conflicts with authorities in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
HARD SENTENCES
While officials blamed the violence on ethnic separatists — the Revolutionary Guards attacked Kurdish Iranian dissident bases in neighboring Iraq — the protesters’ chants emphasized unity against the Islamist government and called for Khamenei’s downfall.
During the protests, many women publicly removed, waved and burned the headscarves they are required to wear under Iran’s conservative dress code, leading to Amini’s arrest.
Khamenei’s adviser Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker, said that “if 50% of women in our country do not practice the full hijab, then the police should not be involved.”
“Here’s the question: Should the government interfere in all matters like this?” he told the Ettela’at newspaper.
Security forces detained three human rights lawyers who protested outside the Tehran Bar Association on Wednesday, lawyer Saeid Dehghan said.
While Iran has used force to quell the unrest, there is no indication yet that the Revolutionary Guards, an elite force, have been deployed.
Iran’s top judge said he had ordered harsh punishments for “the main elements of the unrest”, the semi-official news agency reported.
“I ordered our judges to avoid unnecessary compassion…and hand down harsh sentences for them while separating the less guilty people,” Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said.
Iranian state media said charges had been brought against some people detained during the protests, but did not say how many. Human rights organizations estimate that thousands have been arrested.