Protests broke out in the Iranian capital Tehran after hundreds of schoolgirls were suspected of being poisoned at dozens of schools.
Parents gathered outside the education ministry building in the city’s west on Saturday, turning into an anti-government protest.
“Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh,” the protesters chanted, likening the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to the Islamic State group.
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‘I feel pain in my chest’
Similar protests are believed to have taken place in two other areas in Tehran and other cities including Isfahan and Rasht.
The protests come like IranThe Home Secretary said on Saturday that investigators had found “suspicious patterns”.
Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said: “During field studies, suspicious samples have been found and are being investigated… to determine the cause of illness among the students and the results will be published. in the shortest time”. statement made by the official news agency IRNA.
One of the affected students is being interviewed by a journalist
Girls at more than 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces Was sick in recent months.
Videos on social media showed students being taken to hospital by ambulance or bus, while other children were brought home by parents gathered outside the school.
Other online posts appeared to show girls reporting heart palpitations, nausea and headaches.
Relatives at the girl’s bedside were hospitalized for treatment Photo: AP
The country’s health minister said the girls were attacked with “mild poison”, while officials blamed Tehran’s enemies.
However, some politicians say the students could be the target of radical Islamist groups that oppose girls’ education.
Authorities at the scene of a school in Iran Photo: AP
The United Nation The human rights office in Geneva called for a transparent investigation into the suspected attacks, with several countries including Germany and the United States expressing concern.
Iran dismissed “hasty responses” with a Foreign Ministry spokesman telling state media on Friday: “One of the immediate priorities of the Iranian government is to pursue this matter as quickly as possible. as possible and provide documentary information to address the concerns of families and hold perpetrators and causes accountable.”
People light fires during a protest against the death of Mahsa Amini in September
The suspected mass poisoning follows anti-government protests that erupted following the death of a 22-year-old in September Mahsa Amini in the custody of the ethics police, who enforce strict dress codes.
Schoolgirls joined anti-government protests starting in September.
Mahsa Amini. Photo: Center for Human Rights in Iran
They removed the mandatory headscarf in classes, tore up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for his death.
