Female students in Tehran chanted “disappear”, according to activists, as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited a university campus on Saturday and condemned protesters protesting the death of a young woman in custody.
As the nationwide demonstrations that have rocked Iran enter their fourth week, Raisi addressed professors and students at Tehran’s Alzahra University, reciting a poem that equated “protesters” with flies.
“They imagine they can achieve their evil goals in universities,” state TV reported. “Unbeknownst to them, our students and teachers are on guard and will not allow the enemy to accomplish their evil goals.”
A video posted on Twitter by activist website 1500tasvir showed what it said were female students chanting “Raisi Disappear” and “Mullahs Disappear” as the president visited his campus.
An Iranian state coroner’s report denied that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died from blows to the head and limbs while in moral police custody and linked her death to pre-existing medical conditions, state media reported on Friday. thursday (7).
Mahsa, an Iranian Kurd, was arrested in Tehran on 13 September for wearing “improper attire” and died three days later. Her death sparked demonstrations across the country, marking the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in years.
Women removed their veils in defiance of the clerical establishment, while angry mobs called for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The government has described the protests as a plot by Iran’s enemies, including the United States, accusing armed dissidents – among others – of violence in which at least 20 members of the security forces were killed.
Human rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested by security forces fighting the protests.
After a call for mass demonstrations on Saturday, security forces fired on protesters and used tear gas in the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqez, according to the Iranian human rights group Hengaw.
In Sanandaj, capital of Northwest Kurdistan province, a man was dead in his car as a woman screamed “shameless”, according to Hengaw, who said he was shot by security forces after honking his horn in protest.
But a police official repeated the security forces’ claim that they did not use live bullets and that the man was killed by “counterrevolutionaries” (armed dissidents), state news agency IRNA reported.
A video shared on social media showed a young woman lying unconscious on the ground after she was apparently shot in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Protesters gathered around her to help.
‘Woman, Life, Freedom’
Another social media video showed protesters marching in the northern city of Babol, and several publications said security forces surrounded students protesting on a university campus.
Hengaw also uploaded a video of emergency responders trying to resuscitate a person and said a protester died after being shot in the abdomen by security forces in Sanandaj. Reuters could not verify the video.
One of the schools in Saqez’s town square was filled with girls chanting “woman, life, freedom”, Hengaw reported.
The widely followed 1500tasvir Twitter account also reported shootings against protesters in the two northwestern Kurdish cities.
A university student who was on her way to participate in protests in Tehran said she was not afraid of being arrested or even killed.
“They can kill us, arrest us, but we won’t be silent any longer. Our colleagues are in jail. How can we keep quiet?” the student, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
(Edited by Ros Russell)
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
