Iran’s 52nd Day Of Unrest: Arrests, Mournings, And Civil Disobedience

Monday was the 52nd day of the protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, with protests and strikes reported from her hometown as well as other Kurdish cities. 

The Kurdish-majority city of Marivan was still the scene of sporadic clashes between people and security forces for the second day following the death of Nasrin Ghaderi -- a PhD candidate in philosophy who died on Saturday after being beaten by security forces with batons during protests in Tehran -- while residents in the provincial capital of Kordestan, Sanandaj, were also out on streets chanting antigovernment slogans. 

The situation was also tense in the city of Siahkal, in the northern province of Gilan, where security forces used pellet guns and tear gas to prevent people from holding a gathering to mark the death of Erfan Zamani, a 23-year-old protester who was killed by security forces three days ago in another city of province. Despite heavy rain, a large number of people had gathered in the city for the mourning ceremony. 

In large cities, such as the capital Tehran, pockets of protests were reported but most of the gatherings were focused on civil disobedience against the clerical regime.

Citizens of some of Tehran’s neighborhoods as well the nearby city of Karaj have kept the protests going with whatever they can, be it chanting slogans from their roofs and windows, long honks from their cars and even singing the songs that have been spreading on social media since the beginning of the protests.

In Tehran, protesters were also giving out candies to women who had unveiled in public along short notes that read "Thanks for making the city beautiful with your hair. Woman, Life, Freedom."

In Rasht, Qazvin and Tehran people expressed their support for the protests with writing slogans on the walls, hanging banners with supportive messages from overpasses or burning pictures and statues of Islamic Republic figures or symbols, such as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani killed in a targeted US air strikes in Iraq in 2020.

On Monday night, the Islamic Republic's security forces also blocked the roads to Bushehr's international airport in southern Iran and used tear gas and pellet guns against people who sought to give a hero's welcome to members of Iran's beach soccer team after their moves in solidarity with protesters. Some players of the national squad hail from the city of Bushehr. 

People in large cities have also started hanging puppets of mullahs from the pedestrian bridges as a symbolic threat against the clerics. A new trend that has been growing across the country is flipping the turbans of the clergy as they walk in streets. 

Social media users also launched an online petition, calling on Twitter to ban Khamenei from the platform. For 43 years, the Islamic Regime in Iran, led by Khamenei, has overseen the brutal and systemic persecution of its own people, torturing, raping, and killing civilians who oppose the regime, read the petition. 

Earlier in the day, the country’s hardliner chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei vowed to intensify the punishment of those arrested during the protests following a call by the parliament members who have urged the judiciary to issue death sentences for the protesters.