The authorities in Iran are stepping up efforts to stop the hijab protest in the country, which has been raging for a week since the death of the young Mahsa Amini who was beaten by the modesty police after violating the country's dress code.
The head of the judiciary in the country, Ghulam-Hussein Mohasni-Ajayi, issued a special order to the heads of the country's law enforcement system to carry out a series of "deterrence arrests" in order to "deal with serial protesters and rioters".
The meaning of the order is the arrest of social and political activists, known regime opponents as well as those with convictions for participating in demonstrations in the past, regardless of their participation in the current protest.
Iran: The protesters burned a police station in Tehran
"These people are connected to organizations between foreigners. There must not be any concessions or discounts," reads the directive issued by the head of the judiciary, which is considered particularly strict in the field of religious laws and their enforcement.
The exiled Iranian news website "Iran International", affiliated with the opposition in the country, published a list of names of social activists, especially from the Kurdish region in the southwest of the country.
Among those arrested are Professor Abbas Bagari, a major political activist who supports democracy in the Golestan province, Siyabash Hayti, a senior member of the Kurdish Democratic Party, as well as Zahra Tawhidi, a women's rights activist at the University of Tehran.
Dozens of other names obtained by the news website have not yet been published.
Demonstrators in Iran, photo: AFP
In the meantime, the demonstrators across the country are increasingly turning their anger towards the symbols of the regime and the police itself.
During the night, protesters burned down a police station of the Tsaneu police in Tehran, and were recorded celebrating near the burning building.
Near the place, a large screen with the portrait of the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was set on fire.
In the city of Mashhad, the country's second largest city, angry demonstrators set fire to a statue of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, and attacked several police stations with Molotov cocktails.
In the city of Tabriz, protesters belonging to the Azeri minority waved the flag of Azerbaijan and shouted slogans against Tehran's rule in the province.
Since the protest began, thousands of protesters have been injured by police violence and at least 31 of the brains have been killed.
According to the AFP news agency, at least three members of the Iranian security forces were killed.
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