Iranian schoolchildren were being arrested inside school on Sunday by security forces arriving in vans with no license plates, according to social media reports emerging from the country as anti-regime protests entered their fourth week .
Authorities also closed all schools and higher education institutions in Iranian Kurdistan on Sunday, a sign the state remains concerned about dissent after weeks of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman.
Footage showed protests in dozens of cities across Iran early Sunday, with hundreds of high school girls and college students taking part in the face of tear gas, batons and, in many cases, live ammunition from security forces , rights groups said. Tehran has denied that live bullets were used.
On Saturday, Iran’s main news channel was hacked and briefly disrupted with images and messages of support for the ongoing protests. Images of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei meeting with state officials were replaced by images of dead protesters.
Iranian state TV disrupted by apparent hack in support of protests: Video
An image showing Khamenei in the crosshairs and on fire was also broadcast during the outage, for which hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali claimed responsibility. The images were accompanied by the words “join us and stand up”.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency confirmed that the state television broadcast “was hacked for a few moments by anti-revolutionary agents.”
The scale of the ongoing protests is disputed, with government officials claiming that Western-backed media are giving a false picture of scattered rallies that quickly disperse once security forces arrive. However, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Group said on Saturday that at least 185 people, including at least 19 children, have been killed in protests across the country. Social media showed large, but not huge, crowds denouncing the regime in Tehran on Saturday night.
Supporters of the protests, which were sparked by Amini’s death after he was arrested by moral police in Tehran for not wearing the hijab properly, say the persistence and originality of the often spontaneous demonstrations show the depth of the alienation of young people by an older person. and a socially reactionary ruling class that is out of touch with its values and attitudes.
Despite footage of vans arriving at schools, Iranian Education Minister Mohammad Mahdi Kazem said no expulsions from schools had been issued. He said he was contacting the parents of the students involved in the protests.
Concern for the fate of the children was confirmed in the Guardian. Mateen, a 20-year-old technology student from Rasht, said her family worried about the fate of her 16-year-old sister, Naznin. “My mother’s brother called us this morning and urged us to look for Naznin at school. He has friends in the media who warned him that repressive forces detained schoolchildren and boys from Bandar Abbas.
“My parents panicked and picked my sister up from school after my uncle told them to do it as soon as possible and said that the police might attack the schools,” Mateen added.
Families have also urged their children to avoid sharing protest images and videos, especially on Twitter. “Twitter has shaken the Iranian regime to its core. They can’t control it anymore. We’ve warned Naznin and her friends to at least blur their faces. But there’s only so much you can say to a teenager.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with security officials to discuss how to make the crackdown more effective. Afterwards, Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs, Seyed Mirahmadi, said: “Yesterday, apart from Tehran and Sanandj, the country was completely peaceful… From now on, those who “Those arrested in the riots will remain in jail until they are tried. They will be prosecuted promptly and their sentences will be determinative and set as a deterrent.”
Business groups said the regime’s repeated internet blackouts on platforms such as Instagram were severely damaging business activity, with sales of small and medium-sized businesses falling by between 40% and 70%. Security officials are nervous about relaxing controls for fear of allowing protesters to send live footage of what’s happening, as well as allowing them to better communicate with each other.
Oslo-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said security forces fired on protesters in Sanandaj and Saqqez, with two protesters killed on Saturday. He said a total of 18 minors had been killed.
The group later said clashes continued overnight in Sanandaj and Saqqez, along with Kermanshah, Bukan and Fardis. The widely followed Twitter account Tavsir1500, which posts videos of the protests, also reported shootings of protesters in Sanandaj and Saqqez.
Videos shared by Hengaw showed young women or girls chanting “woman, life, freedom” at a school in Saqqez, Amini’s hometown in Kurdistan province.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock again vowed that the EU would impose travel bans and asset freezes on Iranian officials who tried to crack down on the protests. She told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “Anyone who beats women and girls in the streets, kidnaps people who don’t want to live freely anymore… is on the wrong side of history.”
The state medical examiner’s report Friday said Amini’s death was not caused by any blows to the head or limbs. He did not say if he suffered any injuries.
The report linked Amini’s death to pre-existing medical conditions, an explanation rejected by his family.
Two other teenagers were killed in the protests, according to their mothers. The state claims both fell from the rooftops in separate suicides, in part due to internal family disputes.