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Provinces

Demonstrations Persist in Iran as Chief Justice Warns of Security Forces' Low Morale

September 26, 2022
OstanWire
2 min read
Demonstrations continued in different parts of Tehran and other cities in Iran on Sunday night
Demonstrations continued in different parts of Tehran and other cities in Iran on Sunday night

Nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic swept cities for a tenth night in a row on Sunday after a series of fiery altercations during the day between members of the public and police.

Large crowds again formed in different parts of Tehran, chanting slogans against the dictatorial regime and Ali Khamenei. Women set fire to their scarves on bonfires in the road. In residential zones of the city, people shouted from their balconies in support of the demonstrators.

 

People were also seen marching down the streets of Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, the Gohardasht neighborhood of Karaj and Bushehr. Even Bukan and Sanandaj in Kurdistan province, where a vast number of repressive forces had been stationed during the day, angry protesters blocked traffic and chanted “Woman, life, freedom”.

Upwards of 80 people are known to have been killed since protests erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who was hospitalized in a coma after being abducted off the street by Tehran’s morality patrol.

Many of the protesters who lost their lives were young people. The sister of one of them, Javad Heydari, chopped off her hair at her brother’s graveside yesterday in a symbolic gesture against the Islamic Republic.

Fierce clashes took place between protesters and the police yesterday. In many cases the latter seemed to be outnumbered. In Hormozgan, a street fight broke out that saw uniformed officers flee the scene.

In a shocking incident captured on camera in Tehran, a plainclothes officer and three helmeted riot police physically manhandled a lone female protester who was hurled to the ground, hitting her head on the kerb.

During the November 2019 protests it was claimed that some regime forces, notably the Basij, had placed children aged under 18 in harm’s way by recruiting them to fight protesters.

On Sunday the Twitter account 1500tasvir, which monitors protests in Iran, published two pictures that appeared to show young people in uniform, seemingly co-opted into the ranks of the Basij.

Demonstrations Persist in Iran as Chief Justice Warns of Security Forces' Low Morale

At the same time, in some areas at least security forces are understood to be buckling under the pressure. A video was also published on Sunday in which Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said morale was low and many regime foot soldiers hadn’t slept for days.

The hacktivist group Anonymous continued its assault on Iranian state digital infrastructure at the weekend. Yesterday evening the organization broke into the website of the Iranian parliament, sharing the contact details of every sitting MP.

Sunday’s protests coincided with huge demonstrations in other parts of the world, including Stockholm, London, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Rome, in solidarity with the protesting Iranian people.

Also last night, Iran Human Rights reported that its total count of people confirmed killed since the protests began had risen to 57, compared to the IRIB's 35. The NGO added that internet disruption had made it impossible to verify a large number of the reports received.

Among them was Behnam Layeghpour, a tattoo artist who was shot dead in Rasht on September 23. In his last post on Instagram, Behnam had said he was shuttering his business in solidarity with the protesters. His family have reported the authorities refused to hand back his body, and coerced them into signing a document saying he had had a "heart attack". 

More footage of security forces shooting directly at protesters emerged overnight. The country's Council of Student Unions reported that Hossein Ali Kia, an electrical engineering student at Mazandaran University of Science and Technology, had been killed, while the Teachers' Union announced the death of an educator named Rouzbeh Khademi in Karaj on Sunday evening.

Two citizens were also reported killed in Garmsar, southeast of Tehran: Mehdi Asghari, and someone with the surname Sarvari Rad, who was said to have been shot by Basij forces.

Finally a young man named Morteza Nowrouzi, born in the year 2000, was said to have been killed in the city of Langrod. He was shot dead on Saturday and according to his family, his body was removed to Rasht by security agents.

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