The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd died on September 16, three days after she was arrested by vice squads for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, which requires women in particular to wear the veil.

Anger erupted during his funeral and spread across the country. Protests in Iran are the largest since 2019 against rising fuel prices.

At least 92 people have been killed since September 16non-governmental organization Iranian human rights, based in Oslo, Norway, while authorities put the death toll at around 60, including 12 members of the security forces. According to the authorities, more than a thousand people have been arrested and more than 620 released in Tehran province alone.

Students rallied last weekend but were confronted by riot police, who cornered them in an underground car park at Tehran’s Sharif Technical University before arresting them.

Since then, schoolgirls have taken power across the country, using a variety of tactics, including taking off their veils and shouting anti-conservative slogans.

In one of the verified videoAFPsing young girls with unveiled heads death to the dictator, referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on Monday at a school in Karaj, west of Tehran. Another group of girls sings woman, life, freedom march down a street.

” These are really extraordinary scenes. If these demonstrations are supposed to get anywhere, it’s the students. »

Other videos posted online show schoolgirls leaving classrooms to march through various locations around the city in blitz protests to avoid detection. L’AFP was unable to independently verify these images.

But Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri on Wednesday acknowledged that young people were involved in the protests and denounced the influence of social media. The fact that 16-year-olds are present at these events is provoked by social networks, they are trappedhe said, quoted by the ISNA agency.

Education Minister Yousef Nouri said, quoted by the IRNA agency Hostile attacks targeted universities as well as the world of science and education.

Targeted arrests, deadly force and censorship

Since the protests began, the Iranian regime has escalated its repression, arresting notorious supporters of the movement and severely restricting access to social media.

Wednesday thatnon-governmental organization Human Rights Watch claimed to have verified 16 videos posted on social media, which she says were viewed Police and other security forces use excessive and deadly force against demonstrators in Tehran and other cities.

These images show law enforcement Use of firearms such as handguns or Kalashnikov-type assault riflessaid HRW in a press release. This oppression demonstrates the government’s concerted action to quash dissent in a cruel disregard for lifeadds a researchernon-governmental organizationTara Sepehri Far, quoted in press release.

Meanwhile, Iranian judicial authorities on Wednesday denied any link between the death of a teenager and the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Social networks had reported earlier in the day that teenager Nika Shahkarami had been killed by security forces during the demonstrations.

In addition, acc Iranian human rightsAt least 63 people were killed last week in Zahedan, in Shia-majority south-eastern Iran, when protests sparked by allegations that a local police chief raped a 15-year-old girl from the Sunni Baluch minority were cracked down.

The violent crackdown on protests in Iran has sparked a wave of condemnation around the world.

Following the announcement of sanctions by the US and Canada, the European Union (EU) on Tuesday announced its intention to impose sanctions on Iran restrictive measures to protest against it how the Iranian security forces reacted to the protests.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned of this on WednesdayEU that she could expect a interaction.

Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of fueling the protests.

On Wednesday, Tehran announced it had summoned British Ambassador Simon Shercliff to protest interference his country on the unrest following the death of Mahsa Amini.