Courageous Women Keep Up the Fight on Iran's Streets on Monday Night

Demonstrations against the ruling dictatorship in Iran showed no signs of abating on Monday for the twelfth night in a row. Large groups of mainly young protesters gathered in disparate parts of Tehran, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic and the semi-autocratic rule of Ali Khamenei.

تظاهرات ضد حکومتی در تهران در شامگاه دوشنبه چهارم مهر نیز ادامه دارد. در این ویدیو که به دست ایران‌وایر رسیده تظاهرکنندگان شعار می‌دهند: «امسال سال خونه، سید علی سرنگونه»

#مهسا_امینی #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/xDlHRY72oV

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) September 26, 2022

The protests began on Friday, September 16 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a young woman with no known political affiliation who was abducted off the streets while on holiday by the capital’s so-called “morality patrol”.

Mahsa was hospitalized in a coma two hours later. Based on the medical evidence available, she is understood to have suffered catastrophic head injuries in custody from which she could not recover.

As on previous nights, some women took off their headscarves in protest against state-sponsored misogyny despite the risk this could pose to their lives.

امشب چهارم مهر نارمک تهران..#از_جان_گذشتگان pic.twitter.com/2gYXESF4Ml

— +۱۵۰۰تصویر (@1500tasvir) September 26, 2022

دختران روی ماشین روسری‌ها را به هوا می‌اندازند و مردم تشویقشان می‌کنند

— یزد#مهسا_امینی#MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/9aWTn6cJH6

— Farzad Fattahi فرزاد فتاحی (@FattahiFarzad) September 26, 2022

One video sent to IranWire showed a woman in Tehran walking straight at armed and helmeted riot police with her hands in the air. Moments later she was violently shoved to the floor and arrested.

یک افسر پلیس یگان ویژه با باتوم به یک معترض زن در تهران حمله می کند و او را مورد ضرب و شتم قرار می‌دهد.

#مهسا_امینی #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/x9OAZZTWTA

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) September 26, 2022

The Gohardasht neighborhood of Karaj, west of Tehran, has seen a large number of clashes between demonstrators and armed security forces since protests began.

Footage from the area on Monday showed that nevertheless, older women too had come out to support the demonstrations. One held up a placard that read: “Khamenei, we'll throw you in the trash.”

چهارم مهر، در اعتراضات گوهردشت، خانمی سربندی بسته بود که روی آن نوشته شده بود: #مهسا_امینی و پلاکاردی در دست گرفته بود که روی آن نوشته شده بود: من همسال دهه هشتادی‌ها نیستم ولی همراه دهه هشتادی‌ها هستم. خامنه‌ای می‌کشیمت به چارمیخ، می‌ندازیمت زباله‌دان تاریخ. #ما_پیروزیم پیروز... pic.twitter.com/sGKHSqufw7

— +۱۵۰۰تصویر (@1500tasvir) September 27, 2022

This included in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, which as Mahsa’s home region has come under particularly brutal and wide-ranging suppression from security forces since the unrest first broke out 13 days ago.

سنندج، همین امشب.
به زودی تمام ایران، در جشن رفتن جمهوری اسلامی، این‌گونه به رقص می‌آید.#مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/VBvrzpagbH

— Alihossein Ghazizadeh (@Alighazizade) September 26, 2022

Also in Kurdistan, people again marched through the city of Oshnavieh despite a military-style crackdown over the weekend. Footage posted online showed some participants chanting: “Martyrs do not die.”

ویدیویی از #اشنویه. «شهدا نمی‌میرند»#مهسا_امینی
pic.twitter.com/92ZoiG8rOF

— Saman Rasoulpour (@SamRasoulpour) September 26, 2022

Tens of people are so far known to have been killed since September 16. Many of the confirmed cases were shot by direct fire from security forces, including the IRGC and paramilitary Basij.

Parts of northern Iran, including Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, have so far reported a particularly high number of fatalities. Despite this, protests continued in Babolsar and other towns on Monday night.

با وجود جو سنگین امنیتی و گسیل نیروهای یگان ویژه به شهرهای شمالی ایران، معترضان در بابلسر در شامگاه دوشنبه ۴ مهر نیز به خیابان‌ها آمده و می‌گویند جمهوری اسلامی را نمی‌خواهند.

#مهسا_امینی #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/seYyayiTsB

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) September 26, 2022

Outside of Iran, Monday also saw massive demonstrations in Rojava, a Kurdish-majority region of northern Syria, in solidarity with those taking to the streets in Iran. Hundreds marched through the streets carrying Mahsa’s portrait and chanting “Freedom to all women of world”. In recent days Afghan women living in unthinkable circumstances under the Taliban have also publicly supported their Iranian "sisters" in videos posted online. 

From women of #Syria to those in #Iran, thousands march in Kurdish northeast (Rojava) in solidarity with #MahsaAmini & protests across Iran. Chanting “freedom to all women of world”: pic.twitter.com/ugvH6PV067

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) September 26, 2022