Flames and smoke. Shooting and human screams. Videos on social media show signs of increasing police violence in the city of Mahabad, which has many Kurdish citizens. After a power outage yesterday, Iranian security forces are said to have started shooting at people, write several human rights groups. BBC Persian writes that protesters have taken control of a police station in the city. At the same time, they report serious internet interruptions. These photos will show parts and a broken window after an attack in the last 24 hours in Mahabad. Photo: 1500tasvir – The shooting took place at around 13-14 local time. It was hell. One did not dare go to the window and look out, says one witness to news. Another witness says they saw three military vessels approaching. – Later the power went out, and they started shooting. The demonstrators had fled to nearby houses. The soldiers entered the homes and arrested everyone, both those who lived there and those who had fled there. Photo from witness. There are supposed to be vessels of this kind that were seen in the streets of Mahabad. – I saw a woman being held by the hair and dragged several meters across the asphalt. Demonstrators have taken material from a construction site and built barricades in the streets, they say further. Many people have been arrested, and many who are injured are receiving treatment for their injuries at home. Witnesses have chosen to remain anonymous to protect their own safety. news knows their identity. Reports of shooting in a residential area The theocratic parliament has demanded stricter punishments against the demonstrators, who have persisted in defiance of the brutal violence. This wave of protests started with the death of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini (22), and is in its third month. The demonstrations started in the parts of the country that have the most Kurdish citizens, including with Amini’s funeral in her home town of Saqqez. The demonstrations in Iran are in their third month. Photo: AP Human rights group Hengaw, which is registered in Trondheim, writes on Twitter that “armed forces” have been sent out to Mahabad from Urmia, which is the largest city in the province of West Azerbaijan. – It has escalated even more and there have been more protests in Kurdistan. Not only Mahabad, but also in Bukan and Piranshahr, says spokesperson Ramyar Hassani. – Last night the military flew drones over Mahabad and Bukan. In the morning today, several helicopters flew over the cities. So far, they have managed to verify 29 deaths in the area during the last five days, he says. They have also received reports of police shooting into people’s houses. The head of Oslo-based Iran Human Rights wrote in a statement that the authorities “have cut the electricity, and you can hear shooting from machine guns”. – The start of a revolution Bilete from Tehran this week saw closed shops and angry people in the streets. Workers in large parts of the country have gone on strike for the past week, says Hassani. – The Iranian police and the state have completely lost control over the protests. They attacked Kurdistan even more, where the waves of protests have started and ebbed for the last 43 years. – In Bukan and Mahabad mainly, people have taken over some public and government buildings. Even Basij stations. There is quite heavy resistance to attacks against the state. People in a closed Tehran Bazaar. The picture was taken on 16 November. Photo: WANA NEWS AGENCY / Reuters Mahmood Amiry-Mogaddam, who heads the IHR in Oslo, says this wave is markedly different from previous protests, both in severity and symbolism. – We are talking about the start of a revolution, he says. Amiry-Mogaddam points out that several acts of demonstration, such as the setting fire to the home of the founder of the Islamic Republic, would have been “unthinkable” before. – It is very clear that people do not want the Islamic Republic, nor the concept, the way of thinking, the ideology and the symbols. It will all go away.
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