Fresh protests rocked Tehran on Saturday (September 24th), following a week of protests sparked by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by vice police for wearing her veil "inappropriately".
The crackdown left at least 41 dead according to state media, 50 according to the NGO Iran Human Rights.
In the province of Guilan, in the north of the country, 739 people, including 60 women, were arrested, local police chief General Azizollah Maleki said on Saturday, quoted by the Tasnim agency.
Reformers demand an end to compulsory veiling
On Saturday, Iran's main reform party urged the state to rescind the veil requirement.
In a press release, the People's Union of Islamic Iran, a group close to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), "demands" from the authorities that they "prepare the legal elements paving the way for cancellation of the compulsory hijab law".
This party, which is not in power, also demands that the Islamic Republic announce "officially the end of the activities of the morality police" and "authorize peaceful demonstrations".
It also calls for the creation of an "impartial" commission of inquiry into the death of Mahsa Amini and the "immediate release of those recently arrested".
03:51
Protests in 80 cities, says opposition NGO
Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested on September 13 in Tehran for "wearing inappropriate clothes" by the morality police, responsible for enforcing the Islamic Republic's dress code.
His death, three days later in hospital, led to demonstrations in the main cities of Iran, including the capital Tehran.
The opposition NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo, reported Friday at least 50 deaths in the repression of demonstrations which took place, according to this same source, in around 80 cities for a week.
In several Iranian cities, demonstrators clashed with security forces, burned police vehicles and chanted anti-government slogans, according to media and activists.
The most viral images on social networks are those where we see Iranian women burning their headscarves.
In Iran, women must cover their hair and are not allowed to wear short or tight coats.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi promised Thursday an investigation into the death of the young woman, while specifying that the medical examiner had not reported abuse by the police, which the demonstrators dispute.
01:46
Iranian demonstrators burn a trash can in the capital Tehran during a demonstration to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, September 21, 2022. Illustration.
© AFP
>> To read also: "Iran: 'Women no longer let themselves be done' in the face of growing repression by the morality police"
Pro-regime counter-demonstrations
Faced with protesters, described as "counter-revolutionaries", "rioters" or "plotters", the authorities responded by organizing their own demonstrations after Friday prayers.
At the call of an organization responsible for organizing official events, thousands of people marched in several cities in Iran, including Tehran, Qom (north) or Isfahan (center).
In Tehran, hundreds of people, including women in chadors, demonstrated with Islamic Republic flags, signs of support and thanks to the security forces, according to state television.
"Death to the plotters", "Advocating the end of the veil is American policy", could be heard as slogans.
Praising the "efforts and sacrifices of the police", the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, for their part assured that the recent "conspiracy of the enemy" would be "doomed to failure". .
The authorities had reported Thursday the death of five members of the police.
01:30
Several hundred Iranians living in France gathered in Paris on Saturday to protest against the repression of the protest movement in Iran.
Solidarity demonstrations were also held elsewhere in Europe, notably in Stockholm and Athens.
With AFP
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