Hundreds of people are due to appear in court in the Iranian capital Tehran this week for playing a central role in anti-regime protests, authorities say.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that around 1,000 demonstrators were involved. They are accused of “acts hostile to the state” such as arson and attacks on security forces. Demonstrators have also been charged in other provinces recently, but the group has never been so large.
With the mass indictment, the Iranian regime hopes to put an end to protests in the country that have been going on for more than six weeks and seem to be increasing despite previous warnings from the authorities.
protest wave
The demonstrations resulted in the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in mid-September for allegedly not following Iran’s strict Islamic dress code. According to eyewitnesses, the Kurdish-Iranian woman died a few days after her arrest because she had been mistreated by police officers during her arrest.
The Iranian authorities disagree with this reading, but were unable to prevent a wave of protests from breaking out in Iran after Amini’s death. It is the largest popular protest against the strict Islamic regime in years.
NOS op 3 explains why the Iranian protests are unique:
Riot police crack down on protesters. At least 270 people have been killed since the protests began, an Iranian human rights group said. Around 14,000 demonstrators are said to have been arrested.
Last weekend, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the country’s most powerful military organization, called on the demonstrators to stop their demonstrations. “Today is the day when the riots will end,” he warned on Saturday. “This rebellion will end badly for you.”
The threat from the Revolutionary Guards did not stop Iranians from taking to the streets. Anti-regime protests erupted across the country yesterday. Among other things, the demonstrators shouted “Death Khamenei”, meaning Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme clergyman and thus supreme leader of Iran.
Correspondent Daisy Mohr:
“The warnings from the Revolutionary Guards this weekend were not taken very seriously by the demonstrators. They know very well how dangerous it is to take to the streets in Iran. People have been arrested and there has been a lot of violence from the start.”
The Iranian regime hopes such actions will deter protesters and encourage more people to stay home. But so far it hasn’t really worked. Large protests against the regime are still taking place at universities and many other places in the country.”
Clashes broke out at universities between protesting students and riot police, backed by members of the Iranian paramilitary group Basij.
Unverified images on social media show Iranian security forces using tear gas and beating protesters with batons, international news outlets report. A member of a Basij unit in Tehran is said to have shot demonstrating students at close range.
Even today, students in Iran are protesting against the regime, like here at Amirkabir Technical University in Tehran:
Source: NOS
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