Clashes erupted across Iran on Wednesday as thousands of people flocked to Mahsa Amini’s burial site in Saqqez, a town in Kurdistan province, to mark 40 days since her death, Iran’s semi-official state ISNA news agency reported.
Protests have swept the Islamic Republic following the death of the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died on September 16 after being arrested by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center”, allegedly for not complying with the country’s conservative dress code.
Nationwide protests were held in Iran on Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of Amini’s death, an important day of mourning in Iranian and Islamic tradition.
The unrest came on the same day that at least 15 people were killed and 10 others injured in a “terrorist attack” at the Shahcheragh shrine in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, according to state-run IRNA. It is unclear whether Wednesday’s attack is linked to the protests.
ISNA said security forces “did not prevent” protesters from visiting Amini’s tomb in Saqqez, which is also her hometown, but said clashes broke out after people left the site.
“There were no clashes between mourners and police at the burial site, most of them shouted Kurdish slogans, some moved towards the city with the intention of clashes, one of them raised the Kurdish flag,” ISNA reported.
In videos shared on social media, large crowds of people and lines of cars can be seen heading towards Saqqez’s Aichi Cemetery, where Amini is buried. Groups of people in the videos can be heard chanting “women, life, freedom” and “death to this child-killing regime”.
Other videos show plumes of smoke rising from multiple fires in the streets of a different neighborhood. Gunshots can be heard in the background as protesters march through the streets.
Video shared by the Kurdish rights group Hengaw and verified by CNN shows security forces being deployed in large numbers in Saqqez late Tuesday after activists called for protests across the country to mark the 40th anniversary of his death. Amini.
Internet watchdog Netblocks reported on Twitter that there has been an almost total internet outage in Iran’s Kurdistan province and Sanadai since Wednesday morning. ISNA reported that after “outbursts and scattered clashes” internet in “Saqqez city was cut for security reasons”.
There is no law in Iran that says the government cannot ban religious ceremonies if the state believes there are security concerns.
The government has in the past banned and attacked religious ceremonies on security grounds, and in other cases has contacted families to ask them to refrain from holding public mourning ceremonies.
Iranian state media IRNA reported that Amini’s family issued a statement saying they would not mark her death on Wednesday.
Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said the Amini family was “under great pressure” from security forces to write that statement, adding that they had threatened to arrest Amini’s brother if the procession took place.
Large protests erupted in Tehran on Wednesday, where security forces fired tear gas at protesters mourning Amini’s death.
Video posted on social media shows protesters burning trash cans and throwing stones. Security forces were seen firing pellet guns in return.
A group of protesters in Tehran who were reported to be doctors and dentists were seen chanting “freedom, freedom, freedom!”, according to another video posted on social media. Another separate video shows tear gas being fired in their direction.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] Anti-riot units were seen marching in Tehran as protests intensified on Wednesday, according to a video posted on social media.
Similar units fired on a group of doctors demonstrating in Tehran earlier in the day, forcing the crowd to disperse, according to the person who shot the video. It is not clear what is heard in the video.
Protests also took place at universities across the country, including Ferdowsi University in Mashhad. Azad University in Karaj; Faculty of Science and Research of the Islamic University of Tehran. and Azad University – Kerman.
IRNA reported on Wednesday that Sharif University of Technology in Tehran announced that classes for new students “will continue to be held virtually until further notice” due to “the persistence of some problems and the lack of a calm environment.”
As protests rage, international leaders condemn Iranian forces’ crackdown on peaceful protesters. The United States imposed a raft of new sanctions against Iranian officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on Wednesday.
Those targeted for sanctions include the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence organization and the IRGC’s deputy commander for operations, as well as two officials in Sistan and Baluchistan province, “the site of some of the worst violence in the latest round of protests,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
White House officials say the United States fears Russia may be advising Iran on how to crack down on public protests as clashes have erupted in Iran to mark the 40th anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
“We are concerned that Moscow may be advising Tehran on best practices, drawing on Russia’s extensive experience in suppressing open protests,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said during a Wednesday briefing. “The evidence that Iran is helping Russia wage war against Ukraine is clear and public. And Iran and Russia are getting closer as they become more isolated. Our message to Iran is very, very clear – stop killing your own people and stop sending weapons to Russia to help kill Ukrainians.”
UN experts have called for an independent international inquiry into the crackdown.
Experts noted in a statement on Wednesday that “an alarming number of protesters have already been arrested and killed, many of them children, women and the elderly,” as they called on the government to tell police to stop using excessive lethal force.
