Iran: dropping the mullahs' turban, another way of protesting

An Iranian mullah (religious) in the holy Shiite city of Qom, February 17, 2000. AFP - BEHROUZ MEHRI

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

The Iranian demonstrators do not lack ideas, even less courage, to protest against the regime.

They refuse to bend despite the bloody repression that has befallen them since the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16.

For a few days now, they have been removing the mullahs' turbans.

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Protest, cut your hair, tear down posters of the Supreme Leader, remove the veil in public, demonstrate during the funerals of people killed by the regime, do not buy consumer products (except food) from the government, the list of forms of rebellion against the regime in Tehran seems far from exhausted.

And some wonder if fear has really not changed sides in a few weeks.

For the past few days, surprising videos have been invading social networks.

We see young people removing and dropping to the ground their turbans to the mullahs, in the middle of the street.

While some demonstrators flee afterwards, others pretend and claim that they did nothing.

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On her Twitter account, Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American analyst and commentator, shared a spoofed “Iranian Turban Throwing Federation” account that ironically advertises a “ 

 .”

“ 

 ,” reads the caption of another video, while in yet another, youngsters can be heard loudly clapping after a monk's turban fell to the ground.

As the protests in Iran continue, there's a trend of clerical "turban throwing" #عمامه_پرانی‌

Iranians are uploading videos of themselves knocking off or stealing a cleric's turban and (usually) running away.

(Song is Toomaj Salehi's "Rathole")#MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/hCN3fnZGKH

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) November 7, 2022

A powerful symbol

The gesture of attacking the mullahs in Iran is symbolically strong.

These men, originally considered Muslim scholars, have always had an important role in the country, whether in the religious, educational or legal fields.

Since the 1979 revolution and the fall of the Shah, they have been in power.

Bringing down the mullahs' turban aims to once again challenge the authorities who force women to cover their hair when they are in public places.

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Bye mullahs pic.twitter.com/SVkA0q1xCk

— Nazila (@nazilagolestan) November 7, 2022

For almost two months, the demonstrators have been dreaming of bringing down the Iranian regime and the slogans "death to the mullahs", "down with the dictator" have been added to "woman, life, freedom" chanted from the start of the movement.

The objective of this youth tired of the repressive, radical and liberticidal system is that a revolution is born.

Since the beginning of the protest, dozens of people, mainly demonstrators, but also members of the security forces, have been killed.

On Saturday November 5, the

, based in Oslo, counted 304 dead (November 5).

Hundreds of other people were arrested during these demonstrations, generally described as "riots" by the authorities.

More than 2,000 people have been charged, half of them in Tehran, according to official figures provided by Iranian justice.

پرواز عمامه‌ای دیگر در آسمان

دوشنبه ۱۶ آبان ماه ۱۴۰۱#مهسا_امینی #mahsaaamini/mahsaamini/mahsaamini/mahsaamini

— اتاق خبر منوتو (@ManotoNews) November 7, 2022

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• Iran

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• Ali Khamenei