Iranian youth defy crackdown in call for new protests

Tehran, Oct 15 (EFE).- Iranian youth activists urged people to protest on Saturday in defiance of the ongoing state crackdown against unrest that has spread across the country since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini,

About 100 people have died in the unrest her death a month ago, three days after she was arrested by the so-called morality police for not wearing the Islamic veil properly.

“We call on the youth of Tehran’s neighborhoods and Iran in the name of freedom to gather on Saturday and shout ‘death to the dictator’ in places where mercenaries (police) are not present,” an activist collective called on networks.

The collective called on protesters to mobilize in “new areas” to reduce risk of being detained and try to reduce the presence of security forces in the country’s main squares and roads.

The protests are mainly led by young people and women shouting “woman, life, freedom” and have included rarely seen gestures of defiance such as burning veils, one of the symbols of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The cry “death to the dictator”, in reference to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, also echoes in the streets and from windows at night.

The demonstrations are being met with a brutal crackdown by security forces. According to the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights, 92 people have been killed so far, including 23 minors.

Authorities have cut mobile internet and blocked Whatsapp and Instagram to prevent demonstrations from being organized.

“Confirmed: metrics show strong new restrictions on Internet traffic in Iran,” said NetBlocks, a platform that monitors the connectivity of users and censorship on the network. EFE

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