Iranian Official Admits Female Protesters Taken To Psychiatric Institutions

Crackdown on protests in Iran.

Know the story of some victims 3:01

(CNN) --

At a time when women in Iran are burning their veils and cutting their hair amid nationwide protests, an Iranian official said Tuesday that female students taking part in the protests are being detained and taken to institutions. of mental health.

In an interview with an independent Iranian reformist newspaper, Iran's Education Minister Yousef Nouri confirmed that some female students have indeed been detained and referred to what he called "psychological institutions".

The establishments that hold female students, he said, are intended to reform and re-educate female students to avoid "antisocial" behavior.

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"These students may have become 'anti-social characters' and we want to reform them," he told the Shargh newspaper, adding that the students "can return to class after being reformed."

Almost a month ago, Mahsa Amini, 22, died after being taken to a "re-education center" by the state "morality police" for failing to respect the state's conservative dress code.

Amini's death has sparked weeks of anti-government protests that have spread across the country.

The education minister was unable to give an exact figure for the number of students detained, saying "the number is not much and there are not many."

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Girls and women across Iran have played a key role in the demonstrations, protesting in schools, university campuses and on the streets in recent weeks.

The images that have circulated on social networks show Iranian women and girls chanting "death to the dictator" while removing their veils;

CNN once witnessed women from a vocational training institute in Tehran protesting on a street near their school, chanting "woman, life, freedom."

A group of women rebels against the "moral forces" of Iran 0:58

Demonstrations have become, at times, dangerous.

On Wednesday, police fired tear gas at protesters in Tehran, and bookstores and offices near Tehran University closed their doors as riot police chased and fired rubber bullets at protesters, an eyewitness said.

In Kaj square, members of the Iranian Basij paramilitary organization ordered people to move and prevented others from staying in the street, according to the witness.

Videos obtained by the pro-reform activist outlet IranWire posted on social media on Wednesday showed the demonstrations in Tehran and other Iranian cities.

Police and Basij members fired tear gas at a gathering of Iranian lawyers in Tehran, while uniformed and plainclothes policemen were seen firing weapons into the air in western Tehran, dispersing locals.

Riot police were seen gathering on one of the city's busiest shopping streets.

In another, protesters chanted "Mullahs, get lost!"

Footage from Rasht, northwest of Tehran, showed police in riot gear beating people with batons and driving them off the sidewalk.

On Tuesday, the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, called for children and adolescents to be protected amid public unrest in Iran, now in its third week.

"We are extremely concerned about continued reports of children and adolescents who have been killed, injured and detained in the ongoing public unrest in Iran," the UNICEF statement said.

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