The outbreak of internal political unrest and anger against the regime over the death of Mahsa Amini coincides with the arrival of President Ebrahim Raisi in New York for the start of the United Nations General Assembly summit. A fifth day of protests over Amini’s death erupted on Tuesday, with little sign of anger abating. Protests were reported in several cities, including Qazvin, Arak and Mashhad. There were also demonstrations in the capital, Tehran. A reformist news website published an interview with the victim’s father, which provided new details about her detention by the moral passengers and raised disturbing questions about her death. “When we went to the hospital, they didn’t let us see Mahsa,” Amjad Amini told the reform website Rouydad 24. “They had covered her whole body and we couldn’t see the bruises. I could only see my daughter’s face and the soles of her feet. But of course, I could see bruises on Mahsa’s legs. Protests over Amini’s death have also raged in the western Kurdish provinces where Amini, an ethnic Kurd, came from. Protesters chanted against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and seized flags and insignia of the Islamic Republic. There were reports of dramatic violence and chaos, often documented in short, shaky video clips uploaded online despite apparent bandwidth restrictions in some areas. In one video, Iranian women can be seen and heard clapping and chanting peacefully until a motorcycle, possibly driven by a regime enforcer, causes panic and screams as the women run. In another section, a loudspeaker commander warns the protesters to disperse as dozens of black-clad police gather around a police van and prepare to remove people. A video from western Iran on Tuesday showed a lifeless toddler being rushed away by protesters after he was reportedly shot by security forces. Iranian security forces tried to quell the protests with tear gas, water cannons and riot police, as well as sending pro-regime paramilitaries into crowds of protesters, who sometimes retaliated by throwing rocks and setting fire to police vehicles. Videos showed protesters pelting stones at police officers and plainclothes Basij, a volunteer paramilitary militia. “I will kill, I will kill, the one who killed my sister,” they shouted. “Death in the Islamic Republic”. A protester of the National Council of Resistance of Iran gestures during a demonstration over the death of Mahsa Amini (EPA) At least two people have been killed, according to unofficial information. Authorities have played down the protests and claim they are being exaggerated and fueled by foreign media, including the BBC’s Persian service. Analysts said it was too early to assess whether the protests would threaten regime stability. Authorities have used violence and arrests to crush protest movements in 1999, 2009 and 2019, as well as sporadic outbreaks of labor, student, ethnic and regional unrest in recent years. While protests in recent years have focused on specific economic grievances, the focus on the issue of the hijab and the role of security forces in the systematic harassment of Iranian women makes the protests qualitatively different, with women taking a leading role. “There was a firestorm caused by the hijab issue, with most of the protests being led by students and women,” said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, an expert on Iran’s domestic politics at the American Council for Germany. “It was not caused by socio-economic degradation. It was caused by socio-cultural grievances.” The regime will respond with an iron fist and probably succeed in crushing it Ali Fatullah-Nejad The protests have been marked by outbursts of solidarity between groups that are often at odds with each other, with men lining the ranks of female-led protests and urban elites voicing support for ethnic Kurds who are often treated as an underclass in Iran. But analysts acknowledged that the protests remained too small and scattered to challenge the regime, which has deep layers of security forces it has yet to deploy. “The regime will respond with an iron fist and probably succeed in crushing it,” Mr. Fatullah-Nejad said. “As usual with these protests, there is no organization or leadership and that prevents them from becoming a threat.” This latest wave of street protests began after Amini was arrested on September 13 by the dreaded “guidance patrols” while visiting Tehran from her home country, the ethnic Kurdish enclave of Saghez. According to her father, she was with her 16-year-old brother at the time and was arrested by the morality police as she was leaving a subway station. She begged the police not to separate her from her brother, but they refused. Mr. Amini told Rouydad 24 that a physical altercation occurred during her argument in the street. “One of the officers pushes Mahsa and physically assaults her,” he was quoted as saying. Other women in the police vehicle he later got into reportedly told him that Mahsa was assaulted by security forces. He was rushed to hospital on September 15 after reportedly collapsing at the Vozara Detention Center, where alleged moral crimes are processed in Tehran. News of her death sparked protests outside the hospital, which spread across the country. Analysts said the death resonated with Iranians because Amini was not a political activist or journalist – just a young woman living her life. In this sense, some have likened the death and ensuing unrest to the case of George Floyd, the black man whose death at the hands of American police in 2020 led to national unrest. A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amin in Tehran (via REUTERS) “She is going to be a young woman and a completely ordinary person,” said Azadeh Pourzand, an Iran researcher at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies in London and a former resident of Tehran. “Every one of us has been through Vozara at least once. Every Iranian woman in Tehran has been transported to Bozara because of the veil. So that resonates with a lot of people.” Senior Iranian officials have called for an investigation into the young woman’s death, but have also claimed she collapsed on her own, perhaps due to a congenital condition, a claim her father has rejected. The family’s candor is also unusual and may have helped gel a movement around Amini’s case. Typically, regime officials threaten or offer incentives to victims’ family members to keep them quiet. The Amini family refused to bow to pressure to remain silent, while also showing political savvy by speaking to domestic media rather than foreign satellite channels. “They said that Mahsa has a heart disease and epilepsy, while I, who am her father and raised her for 22 years, say out loud that Mahsa had no disease and was in perfect health,” Mr. Amini told Rouydad 24 .the person who hit my daughter should be tried. I will not allow my daughter’s blood to be trampled on.” Mr Raisi, who has admitted to playing a role in the mass executions of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s, was already a controversial figure in the West and often shunned in international forums. The latest turmoil will likely help his reputation, although he is scheduled to meet with European Union officials on the sidelines of the General Assembly this month. “If he was considering a meeting between Raishi and any Western leaders, that would make it even less of a priority and become even more toxic,” said Aniseh Basiri Tabrizi of the Royal United Services Institute. “The protests will hinder engagement or bilateral relations between Iran and European leaders.” Some Iranian activists have urged the West to take a tougher stance on Iran over Amini’s death. Both the White House and the United States State Department have issued condemnations. Many are outraged that Mr Raisi is set to appear before the UN, while others are calling for an end to talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that would have offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. of the technology program. “They are murderers – you cannot sit at the table negotiating and discussing with them,” Daria Safai, a member of the Belgian parliament focused on Iran, said in an interview. “The JCPOA and the conversation with the ayatollahs will not be possible. We can’t give them the organ to survive.” An Iranian newspaper leads with Amini’s death at the hands of Iranian security forces (VIA REUTERS) Ms. Tabrizi said she doubted the assassination or the ensuing unrest would affect the effort to restore the JCPOA, which appears to be in trouble anyway. And in any case, the Iranians may not be counting on international help in their quest. “What’s so beautiful about today’s Iran is the way women don’t wait for a savior,” Ms Pourzad said. “They are well aware that they are on their own and must take control and determine their own destiny.”
