According to social media accounts from Iran as the country’s anti-regime protests reached their fourth week, security forces arriving in vehicles without licence plates on Sunday were detaining students inside of schools.
In addition, the authorities closed all schools and higher education facilities in Iranian Kurdistan on Sunday, showing that the government is still worried about dissent in the wake of weeks of demonstrations over the death of Kurdish lady Mahsa Amini, 22.
Footage from early Sunday morning in Iran showed hundreds of high school girls and university students engaged in rallies despite being met by tear gas, clubs, and, in several cases, live bullets from security personnel, according to rights organizations. Tehran has denied the use of live ammunition.
On Saturday, photos and messages in support of the ongoing protests were briefly cut off from Iran’s primary news station by hackers. Images of deceased demonstrators were substituted for footage of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in a meeting with government representatives.
During the break, a picture of Khamenei in flames with crosshairs was also broadcast, with the hacker collective Edalat-e Ali taking credit. “Join us and stand up,” were the words that appeared beside the photographs.
The state TV news broadcast “was hacked for a few moments by anti-revolutionary operatives,” according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Government authorities doubt the extent of the ongoing protests, stating that western-backed media is painting an inaccurate picture of dispersed protests that dissipate as soon as security forces arrive. However, the Iran Human Rights Association, which has its headquarters in Norway, reported on Saturday that at least 185 people, including at least 19 children, had died in the nationwide protests. Social media captured sizable, but not enormous, crowds protesting against the government on Saturday night in Tehran.
