Thousands of mourners have held overnight protests in Iran to mark 40 days since Mehsa Amini’s death, which sparked a wave of unrest in the Islamic republic.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died in Tehran on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code for women.
Her funeral last month sparked outrage and immediately sparked protests led by young women who burned their heads and fought security forces in Iran’s biggest wave of unrest in years.
More than five weeks after Amini’s death, the protests show no sign of abating, fueled by public outrage over a crackdown that has left other young women and girls dead.
Despite tight security measures, columns of mourners gathered in Saqqez on Wednesday, paying their respects to Amini at his grave at the end of the traditional mourning period.
A widely shared photo, confirmed by Agence France-Presse, shows a young woman without a hijab standing on the roof of a car, looking into the distance at a highway filled with dozens of cars and people.
Mourners chanted at the Achi cemetery outside Saqiz before heading to the governor’s office in the city center, where Iranian media said some were ready to attack the military base.
“Security forces fired and fired tear gas at people in Zidan Square, Saqiz city,” the Hengao Rights Group said, without saying if anyone was killed or injured.
Explosions were heard overnight as security forces opened fire on protesters in Marivan, Kurdistan province, according to a video posted by Norway-based organization Hengao.
Protesters chanted “death to the dictator” in the nearby town of Bukan, where bonfires were lit in the streets, the rights group said.
It added that protesters had also surrounded a Basij militia base in Sanandaj, a flashpoint city in Kurdistan province, which opened fire and drove back security forces. Similar scenes were seen in the city of Ilam, located near Iran’s western border with Iraq.
Iran’s news agency said the internet was shut down in Saqqez for security reasons and about 10,000 people gathered in the city.
But videos shared online showed thousands more in cars, on motorbikes and on foot on the highway, across fields and rivers.
Mourners clapping, shouting and honking car horns filled the highway connecting Saqiz to the cemetery five miles (8 km) away, photos Hengao said confirmed.
Iran’s news agency said some of the crowd returning from the cemetery planned to attack the military base, until they were dispersed by other participants.
According to a verified video, a police post was torched and set on fire along a bridge in the Qaukh neighborhood of Saqiz.
“This year is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali will be overthrown,” a group of protesters chanted, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hengao said workers went on strike in Saqeez, Dewandarria, Mariwan, Kamiyaran and Sanandaj, and in Javanrud and Rawansar in the western province of Kermanshah.
