IRAN Iranians protest new wave of poisonings of female students

After the end of the year holidays, numerous cases occurred in different cities, from Tehran to Urmia. The most numerous in Saghez, Mahsa Amini’s hometown, where the population has called several strikes against “organized chemical attacks.” The authorities minimize it and blame the young people who want to interrupt the classes.

Tehran () – The Islamic Republic is experiencing a (new) wave of protests, involving several cities, against the “mysterious” episodes of poisoning of female students in the country’s schools, a phenomenon that has already been the target of attacks and popular discontent in recent weeks. The episodes of gas attacks occurred as classes resumed, after a brief respite in late March for the end-of-year holidays in Iran. And also now the Tehran authorities show disinterest or blame the students, without managing to calm the popular anger.

Among the cities affected by the latest attacks are the capital, Tehran, Karaj, Saghez, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Urmia, Oshnavieh, Shahinshahr, Tabriz, Khoy and Amol. Of all of them, the one that registers the highest number of cases is Saghez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish girl murdered by the morality police for not wearing the hijab correctly and whose death sparked a massive protest in defense of rights, which was repressed with blood.

In response to the new surge, residents in Saghez itself have called numerous strikes to protest what they call “organized chemical attacks.” According to the Oslo-based activist website Hengaw, many parents kept their daughters away from school out of fear for their safety and integrity. Also coming from Amol are videos and images of angry parents in heated arguments with local officials, including a religious leader.

The poisonings have been registered for more than five months, with thousands of cases verified by the authorities, although the real number remains uncertain, even higher than 13,000, according to activists and groups defending human rights. Victims present various symptoms, from nausea to temporary paralysis in the most severe cases. At first, the authorities denied the matter, but then radically changed course in the last two weeks as the numbers increased, making it impossible to hide. In recent weeks, the government has detained several of the alleged perpetrators, without explaining their role in the matter or in what capacity they would be involved.

The news agency More, close to the radical and religious wing, speaks in an editorial of a “very limited number of cases”, trying -in vain- to reduce the magnitude of the phenomenon. “Some students,” the article says, “played victimized or acted maliciously with the aim of disrupting the normal development of classes.” The tone is different in an exhaustive article published in the reformist daily Etemadwhich criticizes the authorities for their inability to produce a complete report on the incidents, which ends up fueling a feeling of frustration and popular discontent.

Meanwhile, protests against the government and the radical and religious faction are increasing on social media. The most widespread theory circulating on the web is that, with the attacks, the State intends to intimidate the students or punish them for having participated, often on the front line, in the protests that have shaken the country’s streets since September. According to some experts, in fact, what has triggered the harsh repression is precisely the defiant attitude and audacity of the young women, who went so far as to burn the obligatory veil and the portraits of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.