Iranian high schoolers join anti-regime protests as they return to school

Issued on: 05/10/2022 – 16:44

Chanting “Death to the dictator!” and “Woman! Life! Freedom!”, young women and girls have been at the forefront of protests around Iran since September 16. With the start of the Iranian school year on October 2, the unrest has moved from the streets to the schoolyard.

At a high school in a city near Tehran, an official from the Ministry of Education came to talk to students about the importance of wearing the Islamic headscarf on October 3. But a group of young girls yelled at him “Shame on you!”, threw objects at him and then chased him out of the school. 

In a similar scene, a representative from the paramilitary Basij forces, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, came to speak to a group of high school girls in a city in central Iran. The students responded by taking off their headscarves and waving them in the air while chanting “Get lost, Basiji!”

This wave of demonstrations began as a movement against mandatory veiling laws and their brutal enforcement by Iran’s “morality police”. A 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, died after being arrested by the morality police for wearing “improper clothing”.

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But the protests have quickly evolved to include wider calls for change and longstanding anti-regime sentiments. High school students were seen stomping on photos of Iran’s current and former Supreme Leaders in a school in Razavi Khorasan province. Others ripped up photos of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or held up their middle fingers to images of him in their classroom. Others gathered in school courtyards to chant “Death to the dictator!”

Students also took to the streets to march, chant and dance in protest. 

However, these acts of defiance can have grave consequences. Iranian security forces, including the infamously brutal Basij forces, have been violently crushing protests, using live ammunition, tear gas and batons. Women and girls have been particularly targeted by this harsh suppression. 

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And protesting can be deadly, even for teenagers. A 16-year-old girl, Nika Shahkarami, went missing on September 20 after going to join the demonstrations in Tehran. She was found dead ten days later, according to BBC Persian, which also reported that authorities buried her secretly to avoid inciting more protests.

According to Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based independent monitor, at least 154 protesters have been killed in the crackdown.