Iran Student Protests Intensify

Student protesters were in the streets across Iran on Wednesday as part of a wave of civil unrest triggered by the September death of an Iranian Kurdish woman who had been detained by the country’s morality police.

VOA’s Persian Service cited reports that protests took place around at least 20 universities, and security and plainclothes forces clashed with students in Tehran, Beheshti, Amir Kabir, and Ferdowsi, Mashhad.

Government forces in Mashhad reportedly attacked students with “sticks and tasers.”

Iran was already on day three of a strike called by protesters. They had called for shop owners across the country to close their businesses through Wednesday in an effort to bring about government reform. Witnesses said large numbers of businesses were shut down Tuesday across the country.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, ordered the arrest of anyone encouraging shopkeepers to close their businesses.

The strike came as confusion swirled over the status of Iran’s morality police, which enforces strict codes on women’s dress.

The semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Iran’s chief prosecutor, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, in a Saturday report as saying the morality police “had been closed.”

Activists, however, voiced doubt that such actions were being taken. By late Sunday, state outlet Al-Alam issued a report saying the judiciary in which Montazeri belongs does not oversee the morality police.

Government officials have not publicly commented on the matter.

The Associated Press reports that fewer morality police officers have been seen in Iranian cities in recent weeks and notes it has become more common to see women walking in public places without wearing a hijab.

Iran’s anti-government demonstrations began after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained by the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. Her death in police custody led to a wave of protests, during which rights groups say at least 471 people have been killed.

VOA’s Persian Service contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.