Iran protests swell, as Guards chief says stay home

PARIS: Students led the way on Saturday in protests across Iran over Mahsa Amini´s death, even as the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards told them: “Do not come to the streets.”

Security forces had targeted a hospital and a student dormitory overnight, a rights group said, as the protest movement that flared over the 22-year-old´s death entered a seventh week.

Amini died in custody on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran´s strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.

Security forces have struggled to contain the protests, which started with women taking to the streets and burning their hijab headscarves and have evolved into a broader campaign to end the Islamic republic founded in 1979. Students protested on Saturday, the start of the working week in Iran, at campuses in Tehran, Kerman in the country´s south, and the western city of Kermanshah, among others, online videos showed.

“Shameless, shameless,” students shouted as they clashed with security personnel at a university in Ahvaz, southwest Iran, in footage published by the 1500tasvir social media channel.