Protests, led largely by women have spread in Iran and around the
world sparked by the death of a young woman in the custody of Iran's
so called morality police. Amini was arrested because she was allegedly
not wearing the required head covering now, Thousands of Iranian
women are saying enough is enough.
Vase has more.
Over the last 10 days, astonishing images have emerged from across
Iran, women burning their headscarves, cutting off their hair and
marching in the thousands chanting death to the dictator.
All to protest the regime's hijab requirement for women in cities
worldwide. Solidarity marches have now sprung up from Syria to Greece
to California. But in Iran, the protesters are now facing a crackdown
by authorities in the streets and online for the latest on the ground.
We're joined by special correspondent Reza Sayeh, who is in Tehran.
Reza. Thanks for joining us. It's now the middle of the night there.
We know many of these protests tend to kick off once the sun goes
down, so just tell us what the
Latest is what you're seeing. Not Tuesday was a religious holiday
here in Iran to the streets were very quiet, and it's important to
point out that during these protests
During the daytime hours. Things have been quiet, but it's when the
sun goes down. It's when nightfall comes. That's when the protests
happened. And when the sun went down on Tuesday night, the big question
again are protesters coming out. Obviously, there's severe restrictions
here. The authorities have severely curtailed Internet service. They've
blocked messenger apps like WhatsApp. That is roughly 50 million
users here.
Anyone blocked social media platforms like Instagram and other 50
million users in what we've had to do was essentially drive around
town to monitor the situation and also monitor secondhand accounts
of protests that can't be independently verified and monitor amateur
videos posted online. Don't can't be independently verified either.
That said over the past 24 48 hours seemingly and we say this with
caution. There has been a decrease in amateur videos posted online.
That could be because people are having a tough time uploading videos
or it could be because the protester dying down on abating, But it's
it's It's unclear and we can't report that was certainty so hard
to come across reliable information. There were so lucky we have
you there but breath away.
I should mention that the death of Masa Amini
Sparked what are now the first major protests nationwide in Iran
since 2019. Those were sparked by a rise in fuel prices, and we know
back then protesters were met by a brutal, brutal crackdown by the
regime. You mentioned some of the ways they're curtailing communications
that they responded in the streets. Is there a concern? The longer
these protests go on the crackdown will also become more brutal.
I think there is a concern in what's been interesting is that the
response by the government has evolved over the past 12 days. Initially,
soon after Massa and we need in these protests started the government
and the leadership signal somewhat that they sympathize with these
protesters, or at least that's what they tried to convey to quell
the protests.
The Supreme leader's sending a senior aides the massive I mean, he's
home US President O'Brien racy While he was in New York last week
for the U. N G, a vowing to investigate this matter when that didn't
well things, and when Abraham raised came back to Iran, That's when
the crackdown got more severe and obviously over the past several
days, according to human rights groups.
More than 70 people killed more than 1200. People were arrested for
seeing more activists and journalists arrested. I personally know
a fellow journalist who was detained for roughly 24 hours. If indeed
these protests are dying down, it could be because of the intensity
of the crackdown.
And it also could have something to do with the fact that these protesters
as valiant as they are, they don't have a leadership. They don't
have a strategy. And how long can you sustain a fight with the security
apparatus like Iran's? If those are the circumstances, your face
to the big question, of course, is what could this lead to? What
do you think? Are you seeing something fundamentally different from
previous protests that says these will lead to any change. It's impossible
to say what this will lead to but what it drives home.
Once again is that there's a lot of grievances here. There's a lot
of anger and frustration, and any event can spark protests like this.
This time. It was a woman's wish to express herself the way she wants
to, and that sparked the protests. And what's interesting is riding
this wave or other sectors of the population who are facing a struggling
economy. There's joblessness here.
Unemployment, inflation they've joined in, and you also have celebrities,
Actors television host They've joined in with their voices. That's
something we haven't seen. But we have seen in the past is despite
these voices, that government is how did the power they have the
weapons and they usually snuffed out these protests. I know a lot
of people who don't like this government, both in
Side and outside Ellen.
Want to push the narrative that this time it's different that these
protests are legitimate threat to the government. And then you have
the government pushing their own narrative that this is no big deal
and things are going to come down. We'll see what happens in the
coming days. That is special correspondent Reza Sayah joining us