The most continuous and distinguished one is the participation of women.. Iran's protests continue 40 days after the death of Mahsa Amini

Tehran -

40 days after the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after she was arrested by the "morality police" in Tehran, on the pretext of her failure to dress modestly;

The protest movement is still maintaining its momentum in one way or another.

Sometimes in the streets and squares of cities, and other times in universities and girls' schools.

In response to the calls made by activists in the protest movement on the eve of Mahsa Amini's 40th birthday, several Iranian cities have witnessed, since Wednesday morning, protest gatherings punctuated by anti-regime chants and confrontations between security forces and protesters, while thousands of Iranians marched in mass rallies to commemorate the 40th birthday at Mahsa's shrine in the city of Saqqez (west). country).

Iranian tweeters circulated videos on social media platforms, showing dense crowds heading to the grave of young Amini, chanting "Women, Life and Freedom", amid a remarkable presence of the police forces.

Activists on Twitter also shared pictures of the strike of shop owners in the cities of Tehran, Saqqez and Ardabil, as part of the protests that erupted on September 16.

Protests in Iran continue despite the passage of 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini (French)

Movement of the expelled

Although the history of the Islamic Republic is replete with protests and demonstrations over the past four decades, the current protest movement is distinguished from its predecessors.

As it has become the most sustainable, despite its loss of leadership and organization, and women play a pivotal role in it.

And if the "green movement" in 2009 took to the streets from a political standpoint to protest the outcome of the presidential elections that resulted in the re-election of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and was supported by the reformist movement, the current protests do not carry a specific political slogan, and harsh criticism is directed at the reformist and conservative currents. Both.

It also differs from the 2019 protests that erupted after the government raised gasoline prices and carried economic slogans calling for an improvement in living conditions, according to Iranian observers.

A prominent Iranian sociologist, Imad Afrug, describes the current demonstrations as "the movement of the expelled" at the various political, economic and cultural levels, warning of their recurrence in the absence of radical solutions to end the "expulsion phenomenon".

The ISNA news agency quoted Afrug as criticizing the lack of justice in the distribution of national wealth at the economic level, adding that opinion polls showed about two years ago that 74% of Iranian society tends neither to reformists nor to conservatives, which confirms its economic and cultural expulsion along with expulsion. politician.

accumulated problems

For his part, political researcher Youssef Akanda believes that the failure to resolve the crises accumulated for years has spread despair in the hearts of modern generations, adding that the presence of women in the ongoing protests gives them an impetus for their continuity.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Akanda said that what distinguishes the recent demonstrations from their previous ones is the entry of the new generation into the protest line, stressing that those born after the mid-1990s are more daring and courageous to break the restrictions, and they cannot be deterred by force, which is what worries the government about the intensification of the confrontation. .

He pointed out that modern generations are accustomed to spending the largest amount of their time browsing websites and communication platforms, and do not understand the bureaucracy typical of previous generations.

He added that the persecution of women throughout the past decades constituted an incentive for women in the current movement to demand their rights, which they consider to be forfeited.

He concluded that the new Iranian generation does not see an attractive prospect in the future that awaits it in the event that the situation of his country continues as it is, stressing that the continuous protest movement has united the segments of Iranian society and its nationalities, and this is no longer good news for the security circles that only think of an iron fist to confront Any objection.

The authorities in Tehran accuse foreign and regional countries of inciting the protests (Reuters)

foreign intervention

On the other hand, the former Iranian ambassador to Libya, Jaafar Qenad Bashi, accuses some "regional and Western countries sponsoring dozens of Persian-speaking stations of inciting the continuation of the protests," stressing that the Iranian authorities do not want to use force to contain the riots, believing that the young protesters have been "brainwashed and deceived." psychological warfare waged by the enemy.

Qenad Bashi added - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the recent protests are fundamentally different from the previous demonstrations in terms of the small number of protesters, their dispersal, and their failure to raise the previous political and economic slogans.

The former Iranian diplomat believed that the protests in his country were part of "the scenario of the Western, Hebrew and Arab axis that overthrew the government of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt and destabilized Iraq and Lebanon during the past few years," he said.

He denied that his country was concerned about the ongoing protests, adding that the only concern of the Islamic Republic is "that the enemies take advantage of these developments for the sake of bloodshed."

Qenad Bashi confirmed that the Iranian security services had previously arrested a number of foreign elements who had entered the country "to pour oil on the fire of the protests."

Yesterday, Tuesday, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Massoud Staishi, announced the arrest of Iranian citizens for their association with the "two French spies," stressing in his weekly press conference that they face charges of collusion against national security and espionage.

In recent days, the Iranian authorities announced the arrest of two Frenchmen, in conjunction with demonstrations by teachers who were calling for wage reforms, and demanded the release of their colleagues who were arrested in previous demonstrations.