"I am withdrawing my daughter from school until further notice".
For this father in Tehran, the new cases of poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls this weekend were too many.
On social networks, he says he no longer trusts school staff.
"My daughter's teacher continues to teach, as if nothing had happened, while 90% of the students in her class no longer come to school".
In Shiraz, in the southwest of the country, the same anger gripped Shirin*, 42.
She learned on Sunday March 5 that schoolgirls in her town, for the first time, had been poisoned by this mysterious gas.
Panicked, she rushed to get her son from primary school, where she no longer considers him safe.
The chain poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls and students began more than three months ago.
But since February 28, these poisonings have reached spectacular proportions across the country, with thousands of students affected by the mysterious gas spreading in schoolyards, according to citizen counts.
In total, several hundred cases have been reported in more than 52 establishments since the end of November, according to the official count of the authorities.
So far, only girls' schools have been targeted.
First that suspicious "rotten fish" smell, followed by nausea, headaches, difficulty breathing and low blood pressure…the symptoms are the same every time.
They were felt again on Monday March 6 by students in Babol, Marand, Semnan, but also Neyshabour and other Iranian cities in the north of the country, according to the BBC.
Schoolgirls were not spared on Saturday and Sunday with around twenty videos – unverified – alerting to intoxicated establishments.
According to official Iranian media, these poisonings are confirmed in Abhar (west), Ahvaz (southwest), Zanjan (west), Mashhad (northeast), Shiraz (south) and Isfahan (center).
Authorities accused of letting go
While the first cases had been reported as early as November, Iranian authorities only promised to investigate the matter last week.
A delay that many parents do not understand.
"Why are you doing this to our children?" Yells an exasperated mother, in a video widely relayed on social networks, while an ambulance is stopped in front of the Ketabchi school in Kashan (center) targeted by an attack on gas on March 5.
In several cities, parents of students have mobilized, criticizing the authorities for their inaction.
"To you, those who remain seated! The next poisoned will be among you!", They thus chanted, gathered in front of a building of the Ministry of Education in Tehran on March 4.
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“How is it that the perpetrators of these poisonings have been acting with complete impunity since November? In Iran, each school includes Herassat (integrated security service). , security cameras have been installed,” recalls Iran specialist Azadeh Kian, professor of political sociology at the University of Paris-Cité.
For the researcher, "the timing of this wave of intoxication questions", since it comes just after the series of demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience in the schools of young Iranian women, in protest at the death of Mahsa Amini, under the beatings of the morality police.
According to Azadeh Kian, the Iranian state would have the means to stop extremist groups that act in this way.
"They have carte blanche, just like the morality police had carte blanche to rape women," she said, referring to the death of Mahsa Amini.
Parents prevented from picking up their children
The supreme guide, who has remained silent on the subject until now, finally spoke on Monday, March 6.
He called the poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls an "unforgivable" crime, promising severe punishment for "the perpetrators of this crime".
However, no culprit has been named and no details have been given on the origin of the poisonings, nor on the substances used.
Faced with a lack of information, many parents of students, worried, rush to the portal of their child's school, learning that the school or high school has been targeted.
But they find the door closed.
On a video from March 5, we see a desperate father trying to step over the gate to retrieve his daughter, locked in the school.
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In the town of Hamedan, a school director wanted to keep students inside by force, when parents had gathered outside the entrance.
He told the students: "Go back to class, close the doors and windows; the smell is coming from the radiators", reports 1500 Tasvir, an online media that lists human rights violations.
Phones confiscated, journalist arrested
On its Twitter feed, the group reports that people had their mobile phones confiscated after trying to film the evacuation of students from a school in Shiraz.
"Police were there telling whoever arrived to leave immediately, they weren't letting anyone approach/take video," the tweet detailed.
Other elements come to overwhelm the Iranian authorities.
At least their event management.
On a hospital bed, connected to an oxygen mask, a student testifies with her face blurred: "We warned the teacher, we told her that there was a strange smell. She replied: 'it's the radiator'".
Another very young schoolgirl, this time in Mashhad, recounts in a video that she fainted after inhaling the gas.
"The school principal said that the bad smell was due to a sewage problem in the neighborhood," she said, adding that the students were prevented from going out into the courtyard for safety reasons.
But they started to feel bad in the class.
"My friends dragged me out and wet my face in the yard because I felt bad. That's when I fainted."
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"After denying the existence of these poisonings, the authorities are now trying to limit the information that would allow them to grasp the extent of the phenomenon," says Azadeh Kian.
Ainis, the journalist who had followed the case of poisonings in the holy city of Qom for the Qomnews site from the first poisoning at the end of November, paid the costs.
Ali Pourtabatabaei was arrested by authorities on Monday, the reformist daily Shargh reported.
* The first name has been changed
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