The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, warned protesters that Saturday would be the last day they would take to the streets, in the clearest sign that security forces could step up their violent crackdown on protesters across the country. .
The protests have engulfed Iran since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police last month, in what represents one of the boldest challenges to Tehran’s religious leadership since the 1979 revolution.
“Don’t take to the streets! Today is the last day of riots,” Salami said, in one of the harshest comments since the crisis, that Iranian religious authorities blame foreign opponents including Israel and the United States.
Iranians have defied such warnings since the beginning of the popular uprising, in which women have played a leading role. There were more reports of more deaths and renewed protests on Saturday.
The human rights organization “Hengao” said security forces opened fire on female students at a school in the city of Saqqaz. In another publication, the organization said that security forces opened fire on students of the University of Medical Sciences in Sanandaj, the capital of the Iranian Kurdistan region.
The organization said a number of students were injured, one of whom was shot in the head. Reuters could not verify this news.
And on Saturday, more protests erupted in the Kurdish city of Mariwan, according to videos posted on social media, which show protesters setting fires in the streets while the sound of gunfire could be heard. Reuters could not verify the clips.
The “1500 Films” account on Twitter, followed by nearly 300,000 users, posted videos showing demonstrators in the city of Astara, in northwestern Iran, setting fire to junk and motorcycles seized from the police.
the Iranian revolution of 1401; Astara Haft Aban#Mehsa_Amini pic.twitter.com/ruCNDKSnTh
– +۱۵۰۰ تصویر (@ 1500tasvir) October 29, 2022
In another challenge, a video clip posted by the account showed a strong protest in the city of “Lasht Nasha” in northern Iran, during which protesters shouted: “The religious must go”.
Astara Haft Aban, burning the engines of the agents of the Islamic Republic.#Mehsa_Amini pic.twitter.com/KSkgDmDKYY
– +۱۵۰۰ تصویر (@ 1500tasvir) October 29, 2022
Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the footage.
Trial of the demonstrators
The Revolutionary Guards, which people widely fear, have not been deployed since the protests began on September 16. The Revolutionary Guards are an elite force with a long history of suppressing dissent in the country and report directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But Salami’s warning, delivered in his speech at the funeral of the victims of an attack last week claimed by the Islamic State, suggests that Khamenei could unleash that power in the face of the relentless protests now centered on the overthrow of the Iranian government.
Activist groups posted video clips on social media that allegedly showed protests in several universities in cities across the country, including Kerman, Mashhad, Qazvin, Ahvas, Arak, Kermanshah, Yazd and a dozen universities in the capital, Tehran.
The news agency of human rights activists, “Hrana”, released a video clip showing the protests in a university, where hands joined together to form a large circle chanting: “If we don’t unite, we will kill one. for one .”
Hrana said 272 protesters were killed in the riots on Friday, including 39 minors and 34 members of the security forces. Nearly 14,000 people were arrested during protests in 129 towns and cities and around 115 universities.
The official news agency IRNA reported that an uncompromising revolutionary court had started the trial against a group of 315 protesters accused so far in Tehran, including at least five who are facing capital crimes.
The agency said one man was among them accused of hitting a policeman with his car, killing him and injuring five others. He was accused of “spreading corruption on earth”, a crime punishable by death in Iran.
The agency added that another man was accused of committing “encouragement” by attacking police with a knife and helping to set fire to a government building in a city near Tehran.
The court is presided over by Abul-Qasim Salwati, a judge sanctioned by the United States in 2019 after being accused of punishing Iranian citizens and dual nationals for exercising their freedoms of expression and assembly.
Salami’s warning to protesters came as he delivered a speech at the funeral of the victims killed last week in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The attack on Shah Garg’s mausoleum in Shiraz city killed 15 people.
A man who claimed to have carried out the attack appeared to swear allegiance to the extremist organization in a video posted by the organization on his Telegram account.
