The murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iranian “morality police” has launched a sustained protest over the suppression of women and the brutal rule of the theocratic government in Iran. For nine nights in a row, protests have grown and spread, and what many initially took as social unrest that would be quickly be quieted has turned into a widespread uprising that those in Iran report to be far larger than previous protests in 2019 or 2012.
On Saturday night, there were reports that riot police had lost control of much of Tehran, along with terrifying scenes of Iranian police firing AK-47 rifles into crows of protestors. The number of dead is unknown. And still the protestors did not back down. There are even reports that in the north of Iran, government forces have been pushed out of the Kurdish city of Oshnavieh with Iranian military bases being burned. Those who have been thinking this protest was trivial and no threat to the powerbase of the mullahs, should think again.
The bravery of Iranian women in this protest has been amazing. In cities, towns, and villages across Iran, women of all ages — from girls to grandmothers — have been removing their head coverings and publicly protesting in a way they know puts them not just in danger of jail, but at very real risk of death. For many of these women, there is no going back. They have crossed a line, and they know what will happen if these protests aren’t successful in wresting change in Iran.
For many of those reporting on the situation, both inside and outside Iran, it was at first easy to write this off as the kind of protest that has come and gone there before. There were large scale protests in Iran in 2019 over changes to the government-controlled pricing of fuel and food. Those protests ended with “Bloody November” (or Bloody Aban) in which at least 1,500 protestors were killed before the government was able to put down protests that had spread to two dozen cities. A clearly fixed election in 2009 resulted in a series of small protests before boiling over into nationwide uprising in 2011, to which the government responded with widespread arrests and heavy censorship.
But the murder of Mahsa Amini appeared to pulled the cork on decades of resentments from Iranian women, and the protest they’ve generated is also getting a lot of backing from sympathetic Iranian men, who are also chaffing at the dictatorial and arbitrary rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reuters reports that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for decisive action, and the government has staged a series of pro-government rallies that it is heavily promoting on social media. Meanwhile the Associated Press reports that Amini’s death trigged an “explosion of outrage” that is nowhere near to being calmed. So far, the fake flag waving of those government “protests” is no match for the real thing.
Amini was Kurdish, and in the northwest of Iran, where those with Kurdish backgrounds are in the majority, her death has also served as a cause for renewed tension between local Kurdish groups and the Iranian government. However, protests are not restricted to that area. At last report, there were protests in 31 provinces spanning the whole of Iran.
Known locations for images below. Right click and open in another tab for a larger view.
This is a highly simplified map intended mostly to show known locations for the videos below. Amini’s hometown of Saqez, and the city of Oshnavieh where government forces were reportedly driven out, are both in the northwestern, predominantly Kurdish region.
On occasion, the anger and frustration has been replaced by moments of sheer joy and expressions of freedom.
This is a location a few miles north of Saqez, which was Mahsa Amini’s hometown, and the place where she was buried eight days ago. What’s actually going on in the city isn’t clear. What is known is that the government appears to have cut all communications—land lines, cell service, and internet. What’s getting out comes from those few citizens with satellite phones or satellite internet, both of which are technically illegal in Iran.
Oshnavieh and Shno appear to be the same city. In this case, there are military bases in the area which have reportedly been burned.
There are multiple social media messages along this line on Saturday morning, claiming that protestors have taken a much larger area. However, this seems unlikely in part because it’s not clear there is any sort of consistent leadership supporting the protests. In any case, it seems unlikely that “a number of cities and towns” are now under the control of protesters. These messages are likely, at best, highly premature.
However, even where protests aren’t going on, there’s a change in attitudes both among women and men in Iran that will hopefully be permanent.
On Saturday night, there were reports that riot police had lost control of much of Tehran, along with terrifying scenes of Iranian police firing AK-47 rifles into crows of protestors. The number of dead is unknown. And still the protestors did not back down. There are even reports that in the north of Iran, government forces have been pushed out of the Kurdish city of Oshnavieh with Iranian military bases being burned. Those who have been thinking this protest was trivial and no threat to the powerbase of the mullahs, should think again.
Saturday, Sep 24, 2022 · 8:41:25 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
The bravery of Iranian women in this protest has been amazing. In cities, towns, and villages across Iran, women of all ages — from girls to grandmothers — have been removing their head coverings and publicly protesting in a way they know puts them not just in danger of jail, but at very real risk of death. For many of these women, there is no going back. They have crossed a line, and they know what will happen if these protests aren’t successful in wresting change in Iran.
For many of those reporting on the situation, both inside and outside Iran, it was at first easy to write this off as the kind of protest that has come and gone there before. There were large scale protests in Iran in 2019 over changes to the government-controlled pricing of fuel and food. Those protests ended with “Bloody November” (or Bloody Aban) in which at least 1,500 protestors were killed before the government was able to put down protests that had spread to two dozen cities. A clearly fixed election in 2009 resulted in a series of small protests before boiling over into nationwide uprising in 2011, to which the government responded with widespread arrests and heavy censorship.
But the murder of Mahsa Amini appeared to pulled the cork on decades of resentments from Iranian women, and the protest they’ve generated is also getting a lot of backing from sympathetic Iranian men, who are also chaffing at the dictatorial and arbitrary rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reuters reports that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for decisive action, and the government has staged a series of pro-government rallies that it is heavily promoting on social media. Meanwhile the Associated Press reports that Amini’s death trigged an “explosion of outrage” that is nowhere near to being calmed. So far, the fake flag waving of those government “protests” is no match for the real thing.
Amini was Kurdish, and in the northwest of Iran, where those with Kurdish backgrounds are in the majority, her death has also served as a cause for renewed tension between local Kurdish groups and the Iranian government. However, protests are not restricted to that area. At last report, there were protests in 31 provinces spanning the whole of Iran.
Known locations for images below. Right click and open in another tab for a larger view.
This is a highly simplified map intended mostly to show known locations for the videos below. Amini’s hometown of Saqez, and the city of Oshnavieh where government forces were reportedly driven out, are both in the northwestern, predominantly Kurdish region.
On occasion, the anger and frustration has been replaced by moments of sheer joy and expressions of freedom.
This is a location a few miles north of Saqez, which was Mahsa Amini’s hometown, and the place where she was buried eight days ago. What’s actually going on in the city isn’t clear. What is known is that the government appears to have cut all communications—land lines, cell service, and internet. What’s getting out comes from those few citizens with satellite phones or satellite internet, both of which are technically illegal in Iran.
Oshnavieh and Shno appear to be the same city. In this case, there are military bases in the area which have reportedly been burned.
There are multiple social media messages along this line on Saturday morning, claiming that protestors have taken a much larger area. However, this seems unlikely in part because it’s not clear there is any sort of consistent leadership supporting the protests. In any case, it seems unlikely that “a number of cities and towns” are now under the control of protesters. These messages are likely, at best, highly premature.
However, even where protests aren’t going on, there’s a change in attitudes both among women and men in Iran that will hopefully be permanent.