Iranian students protested nationwide on Saturday, October 1, with strikes reported throughout the Kurdish area.
The protests started after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from the city of Saqqez.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets in most major cities for two consecutive weeks, since the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, the woman killed while in the custody of Iran’s morality police.
At least 80 people have been killed in the recent protests in several Iranian cities, according to Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) based in Norway.
According to Iran Prion’s Atlas, several thousand have been arrested since the beginning of the protests in Iran.
The widespread protests have prompted the Iranian authorities to delay in-person university classes.
The Ministry of Research and Technology announced on Thursday that from October 1st onwards, classes will resume in person. The students, who have been refusing to participate in classes, have staged sit-in protests in more than 100 universities, chanting slogans against government officials.
In Tehran, the students of Tehran University, Beheshti, Science and Industry, Sharif, Allameh Tabatabai, Al-Zahra, and a dozen more colleges and universities protested against the Islamic Republic’s leader and chanted,”Death to the dictator.”
Students demonstrated and protested in many cities, including Isfahan, Tabriz, Karaj, Mashhad, and Sari.
In the last days, students from 111 universities across Iran have announced in separate statements that they will refuse to attend classes in solidarity with the protesters and against the arrest and suppression of students.
Security forces have arrested at least 50 students across Iran. The trade union councils of universities have reported that this morning, security agents detained Reza Kianipour, a Tehran University of Medical Sciences student, in front of the university. Mohammad Hossein Shaa’i, a student of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, was also arrested by the security forces.
Strike in Kurdestan
In many cities of Kurdistan, West Azarbaijan, Ilam, and Kermanshah, shops remained closed regardless of threats from security and government officials, forming a nationwide strike.
In the continuation of the “Women, Life, Liberty” protests, traders and shopkeepers in many cities of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and West Azerbaijan provinces closed their shops on October 1st, ignoring threats from the government, union, and military officials.
The protests against the government’s murder of Mahsa started on Friday, September 16, after the medical team at Tehran’s Kasra hospital pronounced Mahsa dead, shaping the first protests in front of Kasra hospital in Tehran. Protests continued after Mahsa’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez when mourners organized a peaceful rally outside the city’s governor’s office. Security forces outside the office responded to protestors with tear gas and opened fire. Now the protest has spread in nearly all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died after falling into a coma following her detention by morality police enforcing hijab in Tehran. She was visiting the capital with her family from Saqqez.
The Tehran police claim Mahsa’s death resulted from a prior heart and brain condition that led to cardiac arrest and a stroke; however, in conversation with Zamaneh, Mahsa’s family states that she was healthy and had no prior health conditions.
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