‘Two dead’ as Iran protests swell on anniversary of lethal 2019 crackdown

Paris, France (AFP):

Iranian security forces shot dead at least two protesters Tuesday, a rights group said, as demonstrations sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death swelled on the anniversary of a bloody 2019 crackdown.

The protesters were responding to a call to commemorate those slain in the 2019 crackdown, giving new momentum to the demonstrations sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini in mid-September this year, after her arrest for allegedly flouting Iran’s strict dress code for women.

In Tehran, the din of honking car horns reverberated as protesters blocked a major roundabout at Sanat Square and yelled “Freedom, freedom”, according to verified footage.

People later poured onto the streets of other cities, including Bandar Abbas and Shiraz, where women were seen waving their headscarves above their heads.

As darkness fell, more people emerged onto the streets of the capital, some of them gathering around bonfires and chanting “Death to the dictator”, according to the 1500tasvir social media monitor.

“The government forces have directly opened fire in most of the cities where uprisings have taken place, such as Sanandaj, Kamyaran and Kermanshah,” Hengaw, a rights group based in Norway, told AFP.

“Two people have been killed by direct fire from government forces in Sanandaj and Kamyaran,” it said, adding that it was trying to confirm reports that more protesters were killed.

The UN Human Rights Office called on Iran to immediately release thousands of people arrested for taking part in peaceful demonstrations.

“Instead of opening space for dialogue on legitimate grievances, the authorities are responding to unprecedented protests with increasing harshness,” spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva.

– ‘Year of blood’ –

“This year is the year of blood, Seyed Ali will be toppled,” a large crowd chanted outside a Tehran metro station, in a video verified by AFP, referring to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As the day began, shops were shuttered in Tehran’s famed Grand Bazaar and in other parts of the country, according to online videos verified by AFP.

Iranian media outlets said the bazaar’s merchants shut up shop for fear of them being torched, and a police spokesperson later told state television that 11 people had been arrested for “threatening” traders there.

Workers downed tools and university students boycotted classes in Amini’s home province of Kurdistan, in western Iran, Hengaw said.

In the province’s flashpoint city of Sanandaj, protesters were seen burning tyres in a street and chanting anti-government slogans, in other online footage.

“Woman, life, freedom” and “Man, homeland, prosperity,” chanted male and female students at Islamic Azad University in the northwestern city of Tabriz, in a video published by 1500tasvir.

The protests on Tuesday marked the third anniversary of the start of “Bloody Aban” — or Bloody November — when a surprise overnight fuel price hike sparked bloody street violence that lasted for days.

Amnesty International said at least 304 people were killed during the protests three years ago, but a tribunal in London this year by various rights groups said expert evidence suggested the toll was likely far more, possibly as high as 1,515.