Iranian protesters defy crackdown with nationwide demonstrations

On Saturday, protesters across Iran defied a nearly month-long crackdown, according to activists, chanting in the streets and in universities in a sustained outpouring of rage over Mahsa Amini's passing.

The unrest engulfing Iran since Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died on September 16 while being detained for "inappropriate attire," poses one of the greatest threats to the Islamic Republic's survival since the 1979 revolution.

Although it doesn't seem like the unrest is close to topple the government, it has expanded into strikes that have shut down businesses and shops, impacted the country's crucial energy industry, and sparked blatant acts of defiance against Iran's religious government.

In a video posted by the Norwegian group Iran Human Rights, protests were allegedly taking place in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, with demonstrators yelling "Clerics get lost" and motorists honking their horns.

Shopkeepers in Amini's hometown of Saqez, a Kurdish city in the northwest, were striking, as seen in videos the group posted online. In another video posted online, female high school students can be heard chanting "Woman, Life, Freedom" in Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kurdistan.

Additionally, reports of demonstrations came from Isfahan, central Iran, and the southeast of the nation.

The videos could not be independently verified by Reuters. Iran's phone and internet services have been frequently interrupted over the past month, and just before Saturday's protests started, internet watchdog NetBlocks noted "a new major disruption."

Amini was arrested by the morality police for breaking strict religious rules requiring women to dress modestly, and she passed away while she was in custody.

TEENAGE GIRL DIES

233 people had died in the unrest, according to the Iranian activist news agency HRANA, including 32 children and 26 security personnel. According to a posting online, protests in 112 cities and towns and about 70 universities resulted in more than 7,000 arrests.

Teenage girls were among the victims, and their deaths have served as a catalyst for further protests calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

On Saturday, demonstrations were called for in the northwest city of Ardabil in response to the passing of Asra Panahi, a teenage member of the Azeri ethnic minority who activists claimed was murdered by security personnel.

Her uncle, according to news organizations close to the Revolutionary Guards, claimed the high school student had died of a heart condition. Officials denied the claim.

Videos from the activist website 1500tasvir that were shared on social media appeared to show street demonstrations in Ardabil, while another video displayed riot police fleeing from rock-throwing protesters.

In an effort to discredit the Islamic Republic, Iran has blamed the unrest on enemies both domestically and abroad, including armed separatists and Western nations, and denied that security forces have killed protesters.

No one should dare think they can overthrow the Islamic Republic, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose overthrow many protesters have demanded, said in his harshest warning to them yet on Friday.

Female students at Tehran's Shariaty technical college chanted anti-clerical chants during the four decades of clerical rule. According to a video that was shared on social media, they shouted, "So many years of crimes, death to this religious leadership."

Activists claim that comparable demonstrations took place in universities all over the nation.

Josep Borrell, the top diplomat for the European Union, urged Tehran to stop repressing protesters in a conversation with Iran's foreign minister on Friday.

State media reported that Hossein Amirabdollahian told Borrell over the phone that Iran allowed nonviolent demonstrations and that the country's leadership was well-liked. As a result, he said, "we advise Europeans to approach the problem realistically."

On Monday, new EU sanctions against about 15 Iranians are anticipated to be approved, according to diplomats.