Iranian protesters in new show of defiance despite crackdown

PARIS: Iranians staged new protests on Tuesday to denounce the country´s theocratic regime in defiance of a crackdown that has seen prominent figures arrested and some even face the death penalty.

Iran has been rocked by six weeks of protests of a scale and nature unprecedented since the 1979 Islamic revolution, sparked by the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the Tehran morality police.

The authorities have warned protesters it is time to leave the streets but the demonstrations have shown no sign of abating, with people rallying in residential areas, on major avenues and at universities nationwide.

The challenge for the regime is compounded by the custom in Iran to mark 40 days since a person died, turning every “chehelom” mourning ceremony for the dozens killed in the crackdown into a new potential protest flashpoint.

Residents of the Tehran district of Ekbatan late on Monday shouted slogans including “Death to the dictator” while security forces used stun grenades against them, according to footage posted on the monitoring site 1500tasvir and other outlets.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said that students were on Tuesday staging a sit-in protest at Isfahan University while social media footage indicated similar actions at other faculties in Tehran and Isfahan.