Protests spread in Iran as President Raisi vows to crack down

TEHRAN: Iran’s president has vowed to take action against protesters after more than a week of anti-government demonstrations.

President Ebrahim Raisi pledged on Saturday to “deal decisively” with the protests, which have now spread to most of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Officials say some 35 people have been killed since protests broke out over the death of a woman in police custody.

Mahsa Amini died after being detained for allegedly breaking headscarf rules.

Officers reportedly beat Ms Amini’s head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles. The police have said there is no evidence of any mistreatment and that she suffered “sudden heart failure”.

And while Raisi says her death will be investigated, his Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has insisted that Amini had not been beaten.

“Reports from oversight bodies were received, witnesses were interviewed, videos were reviewed, forensic opinions were obtained and it was found that there had been no beating,” he said.

Raisi has dismissed the protests as “riots”. Iran, he said, must “deal decisively with those who oppose the country’s security and tranquillity”.

Videos circulating on social media have captured violent unrest in dozens of cities across the country, with some showing security forces firing what appeared to be live ammunition on protesters in the north-western cities of Piranshahr, Mahabad and Urmia.

Amnesty International has warned that evidence it gathered pointed to “a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully firing live ammunition at protesters”.

Iranian police in just one province have arrested over 700 people during more than a week of protests following the death of a young woman in custody, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

General Azizollah Maleki, police chief of Guilan province, announced the arrest of 739 rioters including 60 women, the Iranian media outlet said.

Iran must deal decisively with protests which have swept the country after the death in custody of a woman detained by the Islamic Republics morality police, President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday.

Thirty-five people have been killed in the weeklong demonstrations, according to Irans state television, with protest spreading to most of the countrys 31 provinces.

On Friday, state-organised rallies took place in several Iranian cities to counter the anti-government protests, and the army promised to confront the enemies behind the unrest.

State media quoted Raisi on Saturday as saying Iran must deal decisively with those who oppose the countrys security and tranquility.

Raisi was speaking by telephone to the family of a member of the Basij volunteer force killed while taking part in the crackdown on unrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

The president stressed the necessity to distinguish between protest and disturbing public order and security, and called the events ... a riot, state media reported.

The protests broke out in northwestern Iran a week ago at the funeral of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died after falling into a coma following her detention by morality police enforcing hijab rules on womens dress.

Her death has reignited anger over issues including restrictions on personal freedoms in Iran, the strict dress codes for women and an economy reeling from sanctions.

Women have played a prominent role in the protests, waving and burning their veils. Some have publicly cut their hair as furious crowds called for the fall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The protests are the largest to sweep the country since demonstrations over fuel prices in 2019, 1,500 people were killed in a crackdown on protesters. It was the bloodiest confrontation in the Islamic Republics history.

Iranian news agencies reported on Saturday that 739 protesters had been arrested in the northern province of Gilan, on the Caspian Sea.

The activist Twitter account 1500tasvir, which has 125,000 followers, said communication channels with the northwestern town of Oshnavieh had been cut off, and landlines were down.

Some demonstrations appear to have at least in part been organised, with a restive urban youth and others opposed to strict societal rules, including on how women conduct themselves, and what they wear, coalescing around the death of Amini, who was accosted by morality police in Tehran for refusing to wear a hijab.