Iran protesters return to streets during fire festival, burn hijabs & Khamenei's posters

A defining feature of Chaharshanbe Suri or the Iranian festival of fire is bonfires as part of public celebrations.

But when the festival began on 14 March, brushwoods weren’t the only things on fire. Demonstrators were seen torching Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s posters. Scores of women also burnt their hijabs in protest against the mandatory headscarves.

All of this happened in public and in major cities including capital Tehran. The events also marked the return of street protests in Iran that first started in September last year after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died following her arrest by the infamous morality police for allegedly wearing “loose hijab.”

In the renewed demonstrations, people were heard chanting slogans like “Death to Khamenei” and “Women, Life, Freedom.”

According to an IranWire report, people responded to calls for protest on social media. Videos circulating on Twitter showed security forces firing teargas at demonstrators.

The protests in Iran have been met with a brutal security crackdown which according to rights groups has claimed the lives of over 500 protesters since September 2022.

What started as a protest against mandatory hijab gradually spiralled into a larger movement against the Islamic regime.

Also read: Exclusive: ‘Was forced to strip, govt uses sexual violence against female protesters,’ says Iranian Christian activist

However, demonstrations subdued in recent months after repression by the authorities which saw the arrest of over 14,000 people including prominent celebrities who voiced support for the protests.

Anger over poisoning of schoolgirls

But incidents like the mass poisoning of schoolgirls have kept the anti-government sentiment brewing.

Several schools across Iran have been hit by poisonings since November 2022 and the cases continue to rise.

According to an Iranian lawmaker, at least 5,000 such cases have been reported so far.

“Twenty-five (out of 31) provinces and approximately 230 schools have been affected, and more than 5,000 schoolgirls and boys poisoned,” Mohammad-Hassan Asafari, a member of the parliamentary fact-finding committee, told the ISNA news agency.

Students have suffered from symptoms like shortness of breath and nausea after reporting “unpleasant” odours on school premises, AFP reported.

Also read: Iran’s biggest serial killer?: A look at president Ebrahim Raisi’s role in 1988 massacre of thousands of prisoners

Iranian authorities have so far arrested over 100 people in connection with the poisonings. Critics have accused the Iranian government of a lack of action in the matter which they say is an attempt to dissuade girls from receiving education.

The Iranian government too has said that the attackers’ aim is to shut down girls’ schools.

“After the poisoning of several students in [the city of] Qom … it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” The Guardian quoted Iran’s deputy education minister Younes Panahi as saying.

Activists believe that the government is behind the poisonings and that schoolgirls are being targeted as they have been active in protests against the mandatory hijab.

“In my opinion, this chemical attack is revenge by the Islamic Republic against the brave women who [rejected] the mandatory hijab and shook the ‘Berlin Wall’ of Khamenei,” Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad told The Guardian.

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