Demonstrations around Iran enter fourth week, two killed

At least two people have died as anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran as the most sustained protests in years against the entrenched theocracy entered its fourth week.

Marchers chanted anti-government slogans and rotated headscarves in protest against mandatory religious dress codes.

In some areas, stores were closed as activists called for a business strike or to protect merchandise from damage.

Protests erupted on September 17 after the burial of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in the custody of Iran’s intimidating ethics police.

Ms Amini was detained on suspicion of violating strict Islamic dress codes for women. Since then, protests have spread across the country and have been met with a fierce crackdown, with dozens of people estimated to have been killed and hundreds arrested.

In the Kurdish-majority northern city of Sanandaj, a man was shot and killed while driving a car on a main road on Saturday, rights monitors said.

The French-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Hengaw Human Rights said the man was shot after honking his horn at security forces stationed in the street. Honking the horn has become one of the ways activists express civil disobedience.

Video circulating online showed the victims falling on the steering wheel as distraught witnesses screamed for help.

The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the elite paramilitary IRGC, said Kurdistan’s police chief denied reports that live ammunition was used against protesters.

Fars claimed the Pasdaran Street man in Sanandaj said the victim was shot from inside the car, without elaborating. But pictures of the deceased show he was shot from the left, meaning it is unlikely he was shot from inside the car.

Rights monitors said a second protester was killed and 10 others injured after security forces opened fire to disperse crowds in the city.

There was a general strike on the city’s main streets amid tight security and protesters burning tires in some areas. Patrols prevented mass gatherings in Sanandaj, but isolated protests continued in the city’s densely populated neighborhoods.

Demonstrations were also reported in the capital Tehran on Saturday, including a small one near the Sharif University of Science and Technology, the scene of a violent government crackdown over the weekend. Authorities have closed the campus until further notice.

Pictures on social media showed protests also taking place in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Other protests broke out at Azad University in northern Tehran, other neighbourhoods and bazaars in the capital. Many shops in downtown Tehran and near Tehran University were closed.

During a meeting with students of Tehran’s all-female Al-Zahra University, President Ibrahim Raisi again claimed that foreign enemies were responsible for the protests. He made the claim without giving details or providing any evidence.

“The enemy thinks it can pursue its own desires in college, not knowing that our students and teachers know that they won’t let the enemy’s futile plans come to fruition,” he said.