Protests in Iran: What you need to know
The Inciting Incident
Protests in Iran ignited after the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini. Amini was arrested in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely. She died 3 days later, on September 16th, while in police custody.
While the government claims that Amini died of heart failure, her family and other protestors claim that she was killed by law enforcement.
Amini's death has sparked country wide protests over rules restricting behavior and dress but also over women's rights issues and other frustrations with the current government.
Men and women have been attending these protests, but often footage shows women removing their hijabs or cutting their hair to show solidarity with Amini.
Further outrage was caused when police responded to peaceful protests with violence.
These protests have now spread internationally.
(Source: TIME)
The Aftermath
A month after the initial death of Amini, protests continue across Iran and the world. These protests have continued to be met with a violent response from the government.
The unrest and restrictions on reporters have made it difficult to confirm numbers, but human rights groups are saying that 185 protestors have so far been killed.
The government claims that the protests are engineered by enemies of Iran and over 20 members of the security forces have been killed wile responding to the protests.
Individual protestors have been joined by strikes at universities and by energy workers.
(Source: Reuters)
