The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, in the clearest sign that security forces may intensify their fierce crackdown on nationwide unrest.
Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police last month, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
“Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots,” Guards commander Hossein Salami said in some of the toughest language used in the crisis, which Iran’s leaders blame on its foreign enemies including Israel and the United States.
“This sinister plan, is a plan hatched … in the White House and the Zionist regime,” Salami said. “Don’t sell your honour to America and don’t slap the security forces who are defending you in the face.”
Iranians have defied such warnings throughout the popular revolt in which women have played a prominent role. There were more reports of fresh bloodshed and renewed protests on Saturday.
Human rights group Hengaw reported security forces shooting students at a girls’ school in the city of Saqez. In another post, it said security forces opened fire on students at a medical university in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province.
Read the article in The Canberra Times (AAP).