Iranian protesters defy crackdown with nationwide demonstrations By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Protesters throughout Iran defied an almost month-long crackdown on Saturday, activists mentioned, chanting within the streets and in universities in opposition to the nation’s clerical leaders in a sustained wave of anger on the dying of Mahsa Amini.

The protests sweeping Iran since Amini – a 22-year-old girl from the nation’s Kurdish area – died on Sept. 16 whereas being held for “inappropriate apparel” pose probably the most critical challenges to the Islamic Republic because the 1979 revolution.

Though the unrest doesn’t seem near toppling the system, the protests have widened into strikes which have closed outlets and companies, touched the very important vitality sector and impressed brazen acts of dissent in opposition to Iran’s spiritual rule.

A video posted by the Norway-based organisation Iran Human Rights purported to point out protests within the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous metropolis, with demonstrators chanting “Clerics get misplaced” and drivers honking their horns.

Movies posted by the group confirmed a strike by shopkeepers within the northwestern Kurdish metropolis of Saqez – Amini’s residence city – and feminine highschool college students chanting “Lady, Life, Freedom” on the streets of Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province.

Protests have been additionally reported in Isfahan, in central Iran, and within the southeast of the nation.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the movies. Telephone and web companies in Iran have been often disrupted over the past month and web watchdog NetBlocks reported “a brand new main disruption” shortly earlier than Saturday’s protests started.

Amini died in custody after she was detained by morality police for violating strict spiritual rules requiring ladies to be modestly dressed.

TEENAGE GIRL DIES

Human rights teams say greater than 200 individuals have been killed within the crackdown nationwide, together with teenage women whose deaths have change into a rallying cry for extra demonstrations demanding the downfall of the Islamic Republic.

Protesters known as on Saturday for demonstrations within the northwestern metropolis of Ardabil over the dying of Asra Panahi, a teenage woman from the Azeri ethnic minority who activists say was crushed to dying by safety forces.

Officers denied the report and information businesses near the Revolutionary Guards quoted her uncle as saying the highschool scholar had died of a coronary heart downside.

Movies posted on social media by activist web site 1500tasvir purported to point out road protests in Ardabil, whereas one other social media video confirmed riot police retreating from rock-throwing demonstrators.

Iran has blamed the violence on enemies at residence and overseas, together with armed separatists and Western powers, accusing them of conspiring in opposition to the Islamic Republic and denying that safety forces have killed protesters.

In his hardest warning but to protesters, Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – whose downfall many demonstrators have demanded – mentioned on Friday that nobody ought to dare suppose they will uproot the Islamic Republic.

State TV has reported no less than 26 members of the safety forces have been killed. The Tehran commander of the Basij militia forces which have deployed in opposition to protesters mentioned in Tehran that three Basij had been killed and 850 extra injured.

Hasan Hasanzadeh informed the state information company IRNA there have been 380 Basij battalions in Tehran, with out giving precise numbers.

In Tehran’s Shariaty technical faculty, feminine college students chanted slogans in opposition to the 4 decade-long clerical rule. “So a few years of crimes, dying to this spiritual management”, they chanted, in line with a video posted on social media.

Iran’s international minister spoke on Friday with the European Union’s high diplomat Josep Borrell, who urged Tehran to cease the repression of protesters.

In a telephone name, Hossein Amirabdollahian informed Borrell Iran allowed peaceable protests and its authorities loved common assist, state media mentioned. “Due to this fact, we advocate that Europeans have a look at the difficulty with a practical method,” he mentioned.

New EU sanctions on some 15 Iranians are anticipated to be permitted on Monday, diplomats mentioned. Asset freezes and journey bans may have little concrete impression on the people, however diplomats mentioned it despatched a political message and confirmed rising worldwide concern in regards to the crackdown.