New protests erupt as Iranians mourn crackdown victims

PARIS: Major new protests erupted in Iran on Thursday as people mourned victims of a deadly crackdown by the authorities seeking to quell over six weeks of demonstrations that have shaken its leadership.

Iran has for over six weeks been gripped by protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the notorious morality police -- a movement that poses the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution.

The clerical leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, has responded with a crackdown that as well as killing dozens has seen 1,000 people charged so far and according to activists risking the death penalty.

With the movement no signs of abating, the problems for the authorities are compounded by the tradition in Iran of holding a “chehelom” mourning ceremony 40 days after a death, meaning each new killing can fuel new protest actions.

A member of Iran´s Basij paramilitary force was killed and 10 police officers and a cleric were injured Thursday during clashes in Karaj, west of Tehran, state media said. Norway-based group Iran Human Rights said large numbers were attending a 40-day ceremony in Karaj mourning the death of Hadis Najafi, a 22-year-old woman activists say was killed by security forces in September.

IHR said police had blocked the highway leading to the cemetery to prevent even larger numbers attending. “This year is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali (Khamenei) will be toppled,” the video showed them chanting.

The 1500tasvir monitoring channel posted pictures from Karaj of a large column of people marching in protest down a highway. It added that security forces had also opened fire on the protesters and posted a video of demonstrators throwing stones at a police vehicle.

Similar mourning ceremonies were held in several other cities including Arak, in central Iran, where IHR said large crowds shouted “freedom!” in memory of protest victim Mehrshad Shahidi.

The Kurdish rights organisation Hengaw reported a sequence of protests had taken place on Wednesday in the Kurdish-populated regions of northwestern Iran where Amini hailed from, including the city of Sanandaj which has become a major protest flashpoint. It said Momen Zandkarimi, 18-year-old from Sanandaj, was killed by direct fire from Iranian security forces.