ERBIL, Iraq – The protests that have plunged Iran into turmoil since the death of a young woman in police custody have been dramatic for the way they have cut through the divisions of ethnic and social class, but one group has emerged with particular indignation.
The woman who died after being raided by Iran’s notorious ethics police was a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority group, which has long suffered from discrimination, and the group’s fury in days recently reflected their longstanding grievances.
“It’s not all about the headscarf,” said Hana Yazdanpana, a spokeswoman for the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian paramilitary group based in Iraq. “The Kurds want freedom.”
The protests have been particularly intense in northwestern Iran, where the Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of Iran’s population, are concentrated. On Sunday, Iranian troops appeared to have recaptured a Kurdish city in the region, Oshnavieh, which was briefly captured by protesters.
The catalyst for the protests was the death of Mahsa AminiThe 22-year-old died on September 16, three days after she was arrested by ethics police in the capital Tehran, accused of violating the country’s strict rules on casual dress for women.
The story Amini drew protest from the Iranians angry not only over the treatment of women under the country’s conservative rulers, but also over a host of other problems, including an economy crippled by years of sanctions translation, corruption and repression.
The protests began with the burial of Ms Amini 9 days ago in her hometown, Saqhez, in the northwest and then, prompted by social media, quickly spread to the rest of the country.
Since then, at least 50 people have been killed and hundreds more injured or arrested, human rights groups say. They believe the death toll is likely to be higher. In Kurdish areas, 17 people were shot dead, including four children, according to the Hengaw and Kurdistan Human Rights Association.
Iranian authorities believe Amini died of a heart attack. But her father, Amjad Amini, told BBC Persian Service last week that he believed she was beaten while in custody, and he said he was prevented from seeing the autopsy report. He hasn’t been heard from since.
The unrest is the most significant outburst of anger against the theocracy in the country since 2009 Green movement. In dozens of cities, protesters were heard chanting, “Women, life and freedom” and “Death before the dictator”, which stemmed from one of the basic symbols and government’s most divisive, Sick Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei.
In social media videos that have attracted widespread attention, women can be seen tearing off their headscarves and burning them in the streets. The government responded with force and by blocking the internet across the country.
The confrontations last weekend in Oshnavieh. which is predominantly Kurdish, signals not only the extent of outrage among many Iranians, but also the government’s determination to quell the protests.
From Friday night to Saturday, protesters there flooded the streets, some hurling guns and rocks at security forces, setting fires and overturning police cars. At least some security forces have withdrawn from the city, according to various Kurdish sources.
But on Sunday, Iranian security forces re-established control over Oshnavieh, said Yazdanpana, a spokeswoman for the Kurdistan Freedom Party, which has members in the city. A Kurdish activist contacted by city residents said security forces had returned to parts of the town they had vacated.
Ms Yazdanpana said members of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps armed with machine guns and supported by artillery on the outskirts of town were active in Oshnavieh on Sunday. Some people went door-to-door to make arrests, she said.
“They are moving forward,” she said.
But Ms. Yazdanpana said many protesters refused to take to the streets. “People don’t want to go home,” she said. “They’re trying to send their voice to the world.”
According to Rebin Rahmani, director of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, in the nearby town of Balo, protesters burned the homes of Revolutionary Guard members on Thursday, and the Guards withdrew from the areas. town after clashes left at least two protesters dead. But they have been replaced by riot forces, he said.
A resident in Balo contacted by phone said that in addition to the two deaths, several young people were seriously injured, and their families were forbidden to visit them in the hospital. He said the Basij fighters, members of the Revolutionary Guards, were making the arrests but keeping a humble attitude because they did not want to risk retaliation. The resident claims to be identified only by his name, Youssef, for fear of security forces.
The Kurds of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, although politically divided, form the largest contiguous ethnic group in the world without an independent state.
“We welcome the uprising,” said Mazloum Abdi, security chief of the Kurdish-led region in northeastern Syria, which broke away from Syrian government rule in 2013.
In Iraq, the president of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, phoned Amini’s family last week to offer condolences and said he hoped justice would be served. The area, aided by the support of a US-led no-fly zone, broke away from Iraqi government control after 1991, establishing a semi-autonomous region, which is governed by the United Nations and the United States. Recognition period.
On Saturday, Iran launched a cross-border attack on that area. The Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting “terrorist and counter-revolutionary groups”, a reference to Iran’s Kurdish opposition forces based there.
Analysts say that despite Mr. Barzani’s unusually outspoken statements regarding Iran, the Kurdistan Region is unlikely to enter the war because of its support for the Iranian Kurds.
In Iran on Sunday, as protests continued, student unions at two universities released a statement saying that campus security officers had kidnapped at least 20 students with gun. A national committee of teachers’ unions has called on teachers and students to strike on Monday and Wednesday in protest.
But some protesters have paid a heavy price.
Video posted on social media shows police pulling a woman’s hair, head banging of another on the curb, shoved a man into the trunk of a police car and opened fire on the crowd.
The protesters appear to be gaining increasing support.
Public figures in Iran – including athletes, writers and musicians – have made statements of solidarity. The captain of the national fencing team, Mojtaba Abedini, has resigned in support of the protesters. Even an author close to the government, Mostafa Mostour, criticized the violence used to suppress the uprising.
“Our women just ask to live a normal and normal life,” he said.
Jane Arraf reported from Erbil, Iraq, and Farnaz Fassihi from New York. Sangar Khaleel contribution report from Erbil.
