On Tuesday, thousands of Iranians defied government orders and traveled to Saqqez in the western Kurdistan province to pay tribute to 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on the 40th day after her murder at the hands of Iran’s “morality police.” Forty days represents the end of the formal Islamic mourning period following a death, but this certainly doesn’t represent the end of the protest movement in Iran. What at first was dismissed by officials inside Iran, and by analysts outside that nation, as a small regional affair that was no threat to the regime of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has grown into the greatest threat to the rule of the mullahs since the 1979 revolution.
Those crowds didn’t just come by car or by walking along the roads. Where they met blockades by security police, Iranians left the highway and walked over fields and hills to join with other protestors in remembering Amini.
The protests that began following Amini’s death have now resulted in over 200 additional people being killed by Iran’s security services and over 10,000 people being arrested. Protests marches have taken place in over 150 cities and towns. More fighting was reported in both Tehran and Saqqez on Wednesday.
In the wake of recent protests at colleges and high schools, the regime announced on Sunday that it was going to post guards at all schools to enforce rules. After that announcement, paramilitary forces in support of the regime tried to take over the cafeteria at Sharif University in Tehran and force male and female students apart. But rather than giving in, the students fought back. The students broke through barricades erected by the pro-regime forces, took control of the campus, and the whole event served to feed the spreading protest against the current government.
Trying to end the protests going on at campuses across Iran is not exactly going smoothly.
On Tuesday night, large crowds swarmed through areas of Tehran, sending police and guards fleeing. On Wednesday morning, security forces have still not regained control over sections of the city.
Those protests have included demonstrations of incredible bravery among the women of Iran, from individuals walking down the street without a hijab in defiance of the fate that took Amini, to school girls squaring off directly against members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Horrible scenes of Iranian security forces firing assault rifles into crowds haven’t stopped unarmed people from continuing to protest at every level. They don’t even seem to have diminished the incredible hope that many are feeling.
This is far more than an effort to remove a law requiring women to wear a mandatory head covering. It’s a direct challenge to the regime of the mullahs. Across Iran, both women and men believe that the nation is on the cusp of change.
Survivors of past protest movements and victims of decades of repression by the regime are joining in the fight. Everywhere, the willingness to be seen speaking out against Khamenei and other Iranian leaders appears to be growing.
The protests are also having the effect of bringing the disparate elements of the Iranian opposition together. From socialists to those seeking the return of the Iranian monarchy, both inside Iran and among the millions who have left in the post-1979 diaspora, there is a growing hope of forging something that looks like a unified response capable of unseating the current regime.
The shape of what comes next isn’t clear. However, there seems to be a recognition that, even as they are fighting to overthrow this regime, everyone wants a voice in what could follow. Because they are all too aware of what happened last time there was a revolution, and just one group was prepared to exploit the power vacuum.
Iranian state-run media are reporting that gunmen have opened fire at the Shah Cheragh shrine. According to the Associated Press, at least 15 people are reported dead, and dozens more are wounded. The Iranian government is blaming the attack on Sunni extremists.
What relationship, if any, this has to the protests now going on in Iran is unclear.