DUBAI, Oct 26 ( HRNW) – Iranian riot police deployed in large numbers in Mahsa Amini’s home town of Saqez on Wednesday, witnesses said, after activists called for protests across the country to mark 40 days since she died in detention over her “inappropriate attire”.
Demonstrations ignited by the 22-year-old’s death while in the custody of Iran’s morality police on Sept. 16 have become one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
A wide range of Iranians have come out onto the streets, with some calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic and chanting “Death to (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei”.
A witness said “several dozen men and women have gathered around Amini’s grave at the Aichi cemetery in Saqez, chanting ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’”. Another witness in Saqez said the cemetery was filled with members of the volunteer Basij militia and riot police.
“But people from all around the Kurdistan province are here. We are all mourning Mahsa’s death together.”
Fearing the 40-day anniversary of Amini’s death would fuel further violent protests, security police had warned her family not to hold a memorial procession or “their son will be arrested”, rights groups said.