<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/05/iran-strike-abolishment-morality-police>
"Iranian shopkeepers and lorry drivers staged a walkout in nearly 40 cities and
towns on Monday after calls for a three-day nationwide general strike from
protesters as the government declined to confirm a claim by a senior official
that the morality police had been abolished.
Iranian newspapers instead reported an increase in patrols, especially in
religious cities, requiring women to wear the hijab, and shop managers being
directed by the police to reinforce hijab restrictions.
The confusion may be partly due to mixed messages being sent out by a divided
regime as it seeks to quell the protests.
Iran has been rocked by 11 weeks of unrest since a 22-year-old Kurdish woman,
Mahsa Amini, died in police custody after being arrested by the morality
police.
The show of strength in the shop strike satisfied protesters since it
demonstrated discontent with the government was still rife in major cities like
Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz and Shiraz. Kurdish Iranian rights
group Hengaw reported that 19 cities had joined the strike movement in western
Iran, where most of the country’s Kurdish population live.
Political prisoners called for the three-day protests to be supported. Posters
also appeared in streets urging that the strike be respected.
Government officials continued to claim the protests are over, but also
admitted many shops had been shut, blaming intimidation that they said would
lead to criminal charges.
At the same time senior politicians, including the president, Ebrahim Raisi,
and parliament speaker, Mohammad Qalibaf, said they will visit Tehran
universities on Wednesday to debate reforms with the striking students, a
tactic that has previously backfired.
In a sign that the government is not relaxing the hijab rules, the
semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported on Monday that an amusement park at a
Tehran shopping centre was closed by the judiciary because its operators were
not wearing the hijab properly.
The reformist-leaning Ham-Mihan newspaper said that morality police had
increased their presence in cities outside Tehran, where the force has been
less active over recent weeks."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
