The wall of fear has been broken.

In many Iranian cities, women take off their headscarves, throw the unloved textile into the fire and fearlessly stand in front of the armed security forces.

They no longer want to be told how to dress in public, calling out: "Woman, life, freedom."

The protests began with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

The vice squad arrested her on September 13 for allegedly improperly wearing the hijab, the mandatory headscarf.

After two hours, she was taken to a hospital, where she succumbed to her skull injuries three days later.

The moral police spoke of "heart failure"

It is not just the violent death of the young woman that drives women and men to take to the streets to protest.

Her anger was also fueled by the authorities' unabashed attempt to cover up the cause of death.

The moral police spoke of an "unfortunate heart failure".

Few protests in Iran make international news.

In the past year there are said to have been more than four thousand protests across the country, most of which were only local and were reactions to economic hardship.

However, they revealed widespread dissatisfaction.

In their entirety, however, they undermine the legitimacy of the rulers.

This also applies to the most recent wave of protests.

It is about the core of the Islamic Republic.

The protests are also directed against the Islamic Republic

The obligation for women to cover up in public is one of the foundations of the Islamic Republic.

Images showing a woman in profile wearing a hijab can be seen all over the country.

Next to it is written: “The Hijab is Islamic.” Just like the Republic of the Ayatollahs is.

The protests, which have spread like wildfire in all large and smaller cities in the past week, are directed against the paternalism imposed by state force on how Iranians have to live.

But they are increasingly directed against the Islamic Republic itself.

The Islamic Republic is still far from being threatened in its existence.

Because the ruling hardliners control all of the republic's institutions, and they can rely on their armed units.

The Revolutionary Guards carry the mandate to protect the 1979 revolution in their name.

The rulers have also eliminated all opposition, including the voices of moderates who still dream of reforming the Islamic Republic.

If the impression is not deceptive, however, a majority wants a different republic, a liberal and secular one.

Her courage is growing to take to the streets to do so.

However, the regime still reliably bludgeoned down contradictions.

This was also the case with the last nationwide protests in 2017/18 and 2019/20, in which mostly poorer classes took to the streets.

1,500 people were killed in the riots that followed gas price hikes in late 2019.

This time the urban middle class is demonstrating for political and social freedoms.

The Shah was overthrown in 1979 when all walks of life united and banded together against him.

If that happens again, it could be the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic.