Iran: Police shoot at mourners for Mahsa Amini

• Mahsa Amini died while in detention after being detained.
• She reportedly donned her headscarf “improperly.”
• Police opened fire on the masses with live ammunition and tear gas.

According to reports, Iranian police opened fire on demonstrators in Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, who died while in detention after being detained for reportedly donning her headscarf “improperly.”

Forty days after the Kurdish woman’s death, thousands gathered near her tomb and fought with police.

According to a rights group and witnesses, police in the city opened fire on the masses with live ammunition and tear gas.

Following the death of Ms. Amini, 22, on September 16, protests erupted across Iran.

She had been arrested three days prior by Tehran’s morality police, and after collapsing in a detention facility, she lapsed into a coma.

Police denied that she was mistreated and said that she had a heart attack. However, there were reports that they had struck her with a baton and hit her head against a car.

Security personnel were stationed in Saqqez and other areas of the Kurdistan region on Wednesday in expectation of new protests on the 40th day of Ms. Amini’s mourning, a day that holds special cultural significance for Iranians.

Videos showed throngs of mourners making their way past obstacles and into the cemetery where Ms. Amini is interred by crossing a river, a field, and a road.

“Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator” were among the cries heard from the throng, along with “Down with traitors” and “Kurdistan will be the tomb of fascists.”

It was unclear if Ms. Amini’s family was in attendance.

Jiyar Gol of the BBC was told by a person close to the family that intelligence officers forced her father to deny holding a ceremony.

Later, the Norwegian-based Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw tweeted that mourners had marched to Saqqez’s provincial government building and that security personnel had started shooting at civilians in Zindan Square.

Unidentified eyewitness was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: “The mourners who had assembled at the cemetery were shot by the riot police. Many people have been detained.”

Those gathered at Mahsa Amini’s memorial “collisioned with police troops on the outskirts of Saqqez and were dispersed,” according to the semi-official Isna news agency.

Hengaw also mentioned protests that took place in a number of Kurdistan cities. The police had allegedly fired live fire in a number of locations, including Marivan.

Also Read

Conflicts follow demonstrations at the grave of Mahsa Amini in Iran

Crowds gathered at Mahsa Amini's tomb to mark 40 days after her...