College students rally as Iran protests enter third week By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – College students rallied at universities throughout Iran on Saturday and strikes have been reported all through the nation’s Kurdish area, as demonstrations ignited by the demise of a lady in police custody entered their third week.

The protests sparked by the demise of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the largest present of opposition to Iran’s clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens of individuals killed in unrest throughout the nation.

Social media posts confirmed rallies at quite a few universities on Saturday, together with within the capital Tehran, with some college students demanding the discharge of scholars detained in earlier protests.

The widely-followed Tavsir1500 Twitter (NYSE:) account mentioned dozens of Tehran College college students have been detained throughout Saturday’s demonstration. The semi-official Fars information company mentioned some protesters have been arrested in a sq. close to Tehran college.

Tavsir1500 additionally posted what it mentioned was a video taken on the gates of Isfahan College throughout which pictures could possibly be heard.

Reuters couldn’t confirm the social media experiences.

A authorities web site had earlier reported that almost all detained college students had been launched, citing an training ministry spokesperson.

Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for “unsuitable apparel” by the morality police who implement the Islamic Republic’s strict gown code for girls.

The protests which first erupted at her funeral on Sept. 17 have unfold to Iran’s 31 provinces, with all layers of society, together with ethnic and spiritual minorities, collaborating and lots of calling for Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s downfall.

Amnesty Worldwide has mentioned a authorities crackdown on demonstrations has to this point led to the demise of at the least 52 individuals, with a whole bunch injured. Rights teams say dozens of activists, college students and artists have been detained.

The authorities say many members of the safety forces have been killed, accusing the USA of exploiting the unrest to attempt to destabilise the nation. State media have branded protesters as rioters and seditionists.

ATTACK IN ZAHEDAN

The Revolutionary Guards mentioned in an announcement carried by Iranian media that 4 members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia have been killed on Friday in assaults in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

State tv had mentioned on Friday that 19 individuals, together with members of the safety forces, had been killed in Zahedan after unidentified armed people opened hearth on a police station, prompting safety forces to return hearth.

A lawmaker from Zahedan mentioned safety had been restored to town on Saturday, a semi-official information company reported.

Authorities blamed a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for beginning the shootout in Zahedan. State media mentioned two distinguished militants linked to that group had been killed.

IRNA posted a video exhibiting destroyed automobiles, an overturned and burning trailer or bus, and fires in burnt-out buildings and outlets, describing it as footage of “what the terrorists did to individuals’s outlets final night time in Zahedan”.

Reuters couldn’t confirm the footage.

Protests have been significantly intense in Iran’s Kurdistan area, the place authorities have beforehand put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering as much as 10 million.

Fearing an ethnic rebellion, and in a present of energy, Iran fired missiles and flew drones to assault targets in neighbouring northern Iraq’s Kurdish area this week after accusing Iranian Kurdish dissidents of being concerned within the unrest.

Retailers and companies have been on strike in 20 northwestern cities and cities on Saturday in protest in opposition to assaults on Iraq-based armed Kurdish opposition events by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

It additionally mentioned safety forces had fired at protesters in Dehgolan and Saqez.

A video posted by Hengaw confirmed males rushing on motor-bikes by a road with shuttered outlets, describing them as “repressive forces on the streets of Saqez”, Amini’s hometown.