Iranian riot police clashed with protesters as thousands of people took to the streets and gathered at university campuses across the Islamic republic to mark 40 days since Mahsa Amini died in police custody.
The biggest demonstrations were in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez, in Iran’s Kurdistan province, where at least 10,000 people marched to the 22-year-old’s grave.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency said the ceremony was mostly peaceful, but that there were some clashes with police as people left. The internet was then shut down in Saqqez, a city of 165,000 residents, as the authorities sought to quash any unrest.
In Tehran, police fired tear gas and buck shot to disperse a crowd near the capital’s bazaar who were chanting “death to the dictator,” witnesses said. There were also protests in other parts of the capital.
Separately, Iranian state media reported a “terrorist attack” at a holy site in the southern city of Shiraz, in which three assailants shot and killed at least 15 people, including two children, and wounded 27 others. Two of the “terrorists” were arrested and one escaped. It was not clear if the attack was linked to the protests.
Iran’s government has been struggling to end the biggest wave of anti-regime protests in years, which erupted when Amini died after being arrested by morality police who claimed her hijab was not covering her head appropriately.
Her family said she died after being beaten by police. The government denied the allegations. But protests swept across the republic, with women burning their hijabs in public and huge crowds chanting slogans against the regime and calling for the overthrow of the theocratic system.
Although Amini was Sunni, Wednesday’s protests were particularly poignant because the majority Shia in Iran traditionally mark the 40th day of a person’s death.
More than 40 protesters have died over the past month, according to state television. Amnesty International has said 144 men, women and children have lost their lives, including 20 teenage boys and three girls.
People from all walks of life took part in Wednesday’s protests. Members of the Tehran Medical Council, responsible for licensing and regulating doctors’ degrees, staged protests that led to clashes with security forces and the resignation of two of its senior officials.
University students, who have become increasingly active in the protests, demonstrated at campuses in at least half a dozen cities. Medical students in Shiraz chanted: “This is the last message; the whole [political] system is the target.”
In a bid to ease tensions, the government has offered to organise question-and-answer sessions between students and officials. But the protesters rejected the move, and a government official was told to go away when he visited Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology to speak to students.
He then went to a university in the religious city of Qom, where he also faced criticism, underlining the broad scope of the anger.
Young Iranians say they do not believe the Islamic republic is capable of changing course, and instead want to put an end to 43 years of what they consider bad governance and repressive rule.
The regime has responded by cracking down on the protests, imprisoning thousands and severely restricting the internet and social media.
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Masoud Setayeshi said on Tuesday that the trials of protesters had begun in provinces including Tehran, Isfahan and Kurdistan.
Those who committed murder and resorted to violence could face the “maximum penalty,” he said, without clarifying what this could be. Other protesters would be treated with “Islamic compassion”.
Setayeshi alleged that some students who were arrested were linked to the country’s enemies.
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