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- Iranian schoolgirls have joined the latest wave of demonstrations, which have gripped the country.
- Videos show them shouting “death to the dictator” and removing their hijabs, according to the BBC.
- One human rights group said at least 154 people have been killed in the police crackdown.
Iranian schoolgirls across the country are joining in on the latest wave of anti-government protests over its treatment of women.
According to a BBC report, schoolgirls in Karaj, a suburb of Iran’s capital city Tehran, took off their hijabs and flooded the streets in a show of solidarity with the movement.
In Saqez, near the country’s western border with Iraq, schoolgirls took to the streets and chanted “death to the dictator,” referring to the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
—Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 4, 2022
—Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 4, 2022
Schoolgirls were also photographed flashing their middle fingers at portraits of Iran’s leadership.
Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said in a Tuesday analysis that the ongoing wave of protests gripping the country is largely being led by students.
The ongoing demonstrations were initially triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in mid-September while in government custody.
Amini was arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly violating rules forcing her to wear a hijab.
Since then, civil unrest has spread to dozens of cities across the country. Women have burned their headscarves and cut their hair in a show of defiance, while vehicles and police stations have been torched by other demonstrators.
Iran’s crackdown on protesters, meanwhile, has been brutal. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights non-governmental organization said Tuesday that at least 154 people — including children — have been killed in this latest wave of protests.
“We are gravely concerned that the Iranian Government is intensifying its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters who are demanding their equal rights and demanding basic human rights and human dignity,” US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a briefing Tuesday.
He continued: “We’re appalled by some of these crackdowns, especially as it relates to the crackdown on students.”
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