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Al-Monitor – Sounds of heavy gunfire, blasts and relentless shooting reverberated across the western Iranian city of Sanandaj on Tuesday, witnesses confirmed to Al-Monitor. Security forces were heavily deployed there to crush dissent in the Kurdish city.
Riot police backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij militia have maintained a large presence in Sanandaj since protests were ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. As the rallies became nationwide anti-government demonstrations, Sanandaj saw some of the worst violence, particularly on Saturday, when government forces killed at least four protesters on the streets, according to a tally by the opposition rights organization Hengaw.
Videos shared on social media showed security forces in running battles against young protesters in narrow alleyways of Sanandaj. It was not immediately clear how many protesters have been killed in the latest round of violence, but activists confirmed that a seven-year-old child had been shot dead.
More footage showed gunfire into residential neighborhoods. Witnesses shared videos showing the impact points of what was said to be armor-piercing 50-calibre bullets as well as gas canisters on walls inside private properties.
In a statement on Twitter, Amnesty International said it was “alarmed” by the situation in Sanandaj “amid reports of security forces using firearms and firing teargas indiscriminately, including into people’s homes.”
Iranian authorities have asserted that government forces are not using lethal weapons and only roam streets “empty-handed in a mission to disperse protesters,” according to the state-funded newspaper Iran.
Iran Human Rights, an advocacy group based in Norway, has documented the deaths of 185 people, including 19 underaged protesters, during over three weeks of unrest across the country.
More protests planned
As Sanandaj faced the intense military crackdown, calls grew among Iranians to renew their protests as a tactic to disrupt the concentration of armed forces on the Kurdish city. Due to the government-imposed internet blackouts, many resorted to old-school tactics such as distributing hand-written statements and painting graffiti in public areas to spread the call for fresh demonstrations.
Joining the nationwide protests was a large group of contract workers at Iran’s lifeline oil industry who went on strike for a second day on Tuesday. The industrial action took place at petrochemical companies in the energy-rich southern areas of Asaluyeh, Kangan and Abadan. A leading workers union reported that at least 11 strikers have already been arrested by security forces.
Meanwhile, in response to the heavy-handed crackdown, debates grew on social media over self-defense, with young Iranians sharing techniques for making Molotov cocktails to target riot police during the protests. Several videos showed young Iranians setting fire to the walls and banners of what appeared to be the office of a hard-line cleric and a Basij militia center.
Students, who have been on the forefront of the protests, were once again rallying on campuses on Tuesday to maintain pressure on the government, which has blamed the unrest on foreign enemies.
Activists also reported raids by security forces on several high schools nationwide, where schoolgirls have been waving their headscarves in defiance the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab rules and chanting against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In some cases tear gas has reportedly been fired into schoolyards and teenage girls have been detained.
Elsewhere, one video showed a cleric being heckled at a girls school as he admonished the students. “Down with the Islamic Republic,” the students chanted as they waved their headscarves.
