Call for day of widespread Iran protest as Khamenei says nation ‘cannot be uprooted’

Activists appeal for a huge turnout for demonstrations under the slogan: ‘The beginning of the end!’; 

By AFP and TOI STAFF    Today, 9:28 am   

PARIS — Iranian activists called for fresh nationwide protests on Saturday over the death of Mahsa Amini, a day after the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader compared the nation to a tree that cannot be uprooted.

Outrage over the 22-year-old’s death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by Iran’s notorious morality police, has fueled the biggest wave of street protests and violence seen in the country for years.

Young women have been on the front line of the protests, shouting anti-government slogans, removing their headscarves and facing off with security forces in the streets.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his warning to protestors in an address on state television, the Reuters news agency reported.

“That seedling [of the Islamic Republic] is a mighty tree now and no one should dare think they can uproot it,” he said.

Iran’s supreme leader has accused the country’s enemies, including the United States and Israel, of fomenting the “riots.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with members of the Expediency Council, in Tehran, Iran, October 12, 2022. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)<
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Meanwhile, activists issued an online appeal for a huge turnout for protests on Saturday under the slogan: “The beginning of the end!”

They have called on people across Iran to show up at spots where the security forces are not present and to chant “Death to the dictator” — a reference to Khamenei.

The calls came despite blocked access to internet services and platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp.

“We have to be present in the squares, because the best VPN these days is the street,” activists declared, referring to virtual private networks used to skirt internet restrictions.

‘Brave women of Iran’

The protesters drew support from US President Joe Biden, who said he was “stunned” by the mass demonstrations, now in their fifth week.

“I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran,” Biden said late Friday.

“It stunned me what it awakened in Iran. It awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time,” he said.

“Women all over the world are being persecuted in various ways, but they should be able to wear in God’s name what they want to wear,” said Biden.

Iran “has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights,” he added.

At least 108 people have been killed in the Amini protests, and at least 93 more have died in separate clashes in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.

The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International called an “unrelenting brutal crackdown” that included an “all-out attack on child protesters” — leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.

International condemnation

The bloody crackdown has drawn international condemnation and new sanctions on Iran from Britain, Canada and the United States.

On Friday, the Iranian government condemned French President Emmanuel Macron for remarks in which he expressed solidarity with the protests sparked over Amini’s death.

A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran shows a woman walking without a head scarf in the heart of the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (AFP)<
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Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Macron’s remarks served to encourage “violent people and lawbreakers.”

He said it was “surprising” that France was condemning Iran’s security forces for dealing with “violent people and rioters” when it was threatening to use force in response to “labor strikes in the oil and gas sector” at home.

“This is clear hypocrisy,” he claimed.

Assault

The security forces have carried out a campaign of mass arrests that has netted young activists, journalists, students and even minors.

Schoolchildren have been arrested inside classrooms and ended up in “psychological centers,” Education Minister Yousef Nouri said this week, quoted by Shargh.

In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle and a trash bin are burning during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the nation’s morality police on September 19, 2022, in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP)<
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In a rare show of accountability, the Tehran police department said Friday that it would investigate the conduct of an officer following allegations of harassment during the arrest of a woman protesting against Amini’s death.

It came after a video showed a male officer appearing to grope the woman from behind while arresting her before she was eventually allowed to leave.

Activists say that the public assault points to the fact that even worse abuses by Iranian forces are taking place behind closed doors.