Status: 08.10.2022 18:54
The wave of protests in Iran is not abating. In the capital Tehran, anger against the regime erupted again on the streets and at the universities. Security forces used violence against the demonstrators.
A good three weeks after the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, Iran has not come to rest. In the capital, Tehran, demonstrators used Molotov cocktails. According to eyewitnesses, they also threw the petrol bombs at police and security forces near and in front of Tehran University.
The state news agency IRNA confirmed petrol bombs against public buildings, but not against the officials. According to the report, the demonstrators again chanted slogans against the Islamic political elite.
Horn concerts for demonstrators
Clashes also broke out again in front of the elite Sharif University, it said. The police used tear gas against the demonstrators. Shots are said to have been fired.
The clashes led to renewed traffic jams on some of Tehran’s main roads. Motorists are said to have supported the demonstrators with horn concerts and shouted system-critical slogans.
Students to Raisi: “Go away”
President Ebrahim Raisi visited Al-Sahra University in Tehran and spoke again of foreign conspiracy operations against the Islamic Republic. “Even in the universities, the enemies now want to implement their goals,” the cleric claimed. But the Iranian students and professors would ensure that all these conspiracies failed, the president said, according to the Isna news agency.
In a video that was circulated on Twitter, students are said to have shouted “Go away” to him. Iran’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously also described the anti-government protests as a foreign conspiracy.
Apparently strikes in four cities
The protests against the Islamic system are now in their fourth week. Iranian human rights group Hengaw said demonstrations and strikes broke out in four cities after a call for mass demonstrations. In the Kurdish cities of Sakkes and Sanandaj, security forces shot at demonstrators and used tear gas.
According to observers, the protests are increasingly taking the form of civil disobedience. Others also speak of a “digital revolution” because the recorded videos of the protest actions in the country are posted on social media. The demonstrators are reaching millions at home and abroad. This strategy makes it difficult for police and security forces to quell the protests.
Civil rights groups: 150 dead
Kurdish woman Amini was arrested in Tehran on September 13 for allegedly violating the rules on wearing a headscarf. She died three days later. There is conflicting information about the circumstances of her death. According to state information, a coroner came to the conclusion that Amini had not died from being beaten in police custody, but as a result of a previous illness.
The death of the young Kurd unleashed a nationwide wave of protests, which have long been directed against the country’s leadership and the restrictions on civil liberties in general. According to civil rights groups, the protests have killed more than 150 people, injured hundreds, and arrested thousands. The Iranian government blames its enemies – including the United States – for the protests. 20 security forces were killed.
Interior ministers discuss deportations
Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that “in the current disastrous human rights situation” deportations to Iran are irresponsible. She called on the federal states to react “as quickly as possible”.
Their interior ministers will probably deal with a suspension of deportations at their conference. This was announced by the chairman, Bavaria’s Minister of the Interior, Joachim Hermann. Until then, Bavaria has already suspended deportations to Iran, with the exception of “serious criminals,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Paris advises leaving the country
France, meanwhile, recommended its citizens to leave Iran as soon as possible. The Foreign Ministry in Paris justified its recommendation by saying that French nationals visiting the country face a high risk of arrest, arbitrary detention and unjust sentences. That also applies to tourists. In the event of an arrest, respect for fundamental rights and security are not guaranteed.
The Foreign Office in Berlin also strongly advises against traveling to Iran. For Germans, there is a concrete danger of being “arbitrarily arrested, interrogated and sentenced to long prison terms,” according to the travel and security information on the Internet.