"Women. Life. Freedom": the mantra of high school girls in Iran
The "hijab protest" has been going on for about two weeks, and it seems that this is one of the largest and most threatening popular protests against the older religious leaders in Iran in more than a decade.
Unlike other protest movements in the past, this protest is led by women and girls
news agencies
05/10/2022
Wednesday, October 5, 2022, 1:46 p.m. Updated: 6:57 p.m.
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High school girls in Iran have started to join the protest against the government in recent days.
The protest erupted following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran, claiming that she did not properly wear the veil that women in Iran must wear when in public.
Amini was apparently beaten while in custody and died three days later in hospital.
The authorities claimed that it was a "tragic incident".
The "hijab protest" has been going on for about two weeks and it seems that this is the largest and most threatening popular protest against the country's older religious leaders in more than a decade.
Unlike other protest movements in the past, the shovel protest is led by women.
Security forces have so far dispersed the protests with live ammunition and extreme violence, leading to the death of more than 50 people and the arrest of more than 1,500.
However, Iranians continue to take to the streets.
In homes, schools and offices they take down the pictures of the two supreme religious leaders who have ruled since the revolution - Ayatollah Khomeini and now Ayatollah Ali Minai.
High school girls protesting against the regime (photo: official website, Twitter)
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High school girls protesting against the regime (photo: official website, Twitter)
In a video posted on social networks, a girl can be seen in class replacing the photos of the two with a protest sign.
In another video, a group of teenagers filmed themselves making obscene gestures towards the pictures.
The demonstrators also adopted the call of the Kurdish fighters: "Women. Life. Freedom."
In videos across Iran, women dance in the streets without head coverings and burn their veils.
Some even cut their own hair in front of the camera.
On Monday, students at Tehran's prestigious and liberal Sharif University, dubbed the "MIT of Iran," clashed with security forces.
"Sharif University has turned into a prison! Ebin prison is the university," shouted many arrested students.
As a sign of solidarity, schoolgirls took to the streets without hijabs on their heads and also shouted "Women. Life. Freedom" in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, and in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj.
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The images remind some of the days after the Islamic revolution of 1979, which brought down the religious rule.
Women then, as today, took to the streets in large numbers to protest against the obligation to wear hijab, high school girls played a central role in the protests, which were eventually suppressed.
Dozens of Iranian journalists have also been arrested so far in order to silence the protest, and internet access has been cut off.
The musician Sharabin HaJipour, who turns protestors' slogans into songs.
His song "For the Sake Of" became the unofficial anthem overnight.
"For my sister, for your sister, for our sisters", he sings and gives thanks for the critical role of women in the current protests.
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