Oct 27,2022:Iranian security forces have clashed with people taking part in a memorial for Mahsa Amini, according to a semi-official news agency, as thousands gathered in her hometown of Saqqez to mark 40 days since her death.
Speaking from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said an estimated 10,000 people were reportedly in attendance at the cemetery to pay their respects to Amini.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in the capital, Tehran, on September 16 after being detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly wearing improper hijab. Her family have challenged a state investigation that blamed pre-existing conditions for her death which, it said, was not the result of Amini being hit.
The weeks-long protests first broke out in Saqqez, in the northwestern Kurdistan province. They have since spread quickly across the country, persisting amid severe internet restrictions that remain in place.
The 40th day since someone’s funeral, known as “chehelom”, holds cultural significance in Iran and religious importance for Shia Muslims.
On Wednesday, videos circulating on social media showed large crowds marching and driving towards the Aychi cemetery in Saqqez, where Amini was laid to rest.
Those gathered included people converging from other cities and appeared to number in the thousands. Many chanted “woman, life, freedom” and “freedom, freedom”, slogans that have been widely used in the demonstrations across Iran, as well as in solidarity protests that have been organised outside the country.
Demonstrations ignited by the 22-year-old’s death last month become one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
State media and hardline officials have called protesters “hypocrites, monarchists, thugs and seditionists”.
Rights groups said at least 250 protesters have been killed, including teenage girls, and thousands have been arrested.
