By Pouya Ghorbani
A video of anti-riot forces sexually assaulting a female protester whilst trying to arrest her in broad daylight has provoked fury on social media.
Users voiced outrage, with many calling for “justice” and the resignation of the police chief. Some pro-government users also condemned the perpetrators.
Despite blocks on some social media tools, Iranians are still managing to share powerful images of the protests.
The country has been rocked by the most intense unrest in decades.
The protests erupted last month when anger over the death in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini boiled over. Officials say she died from an underlying health condition, but her family say she died after being beaten by morality police.
Both inside and outside of Iran, a number of videos of the protest have gone viral. In the most recent video, which was captured on camera on Wednesday in Argentina Square in Tehran, officers are seen encircling a woman who is walking along a busy street.
She is taken by the neck by one of them, who then drags her into a group of about 20 policemen, many of whom are riding motorcycles.
Another officer comes up behind the woman and places his left hand on her bottom as she is being dragged toward one of the bikes.
More officers surround the woman as she stoops to the ground. They are pulling her hair, a female voice from behind the camera is heard saying.
Drivers in nearby cars begin honking their horns in protest, as has happened in recent days in similar circumstances across the nation.
The woman is then seen standing up and fleeing the scene while not wearing a hijab, or headscarf.
At this point, the same voice on the clip is heard to say: “Look at him [the security force officer], he is laughing”.
The footage has been verified by the BBC’s Persian service.
Tehran’s Police Public Relations office has said the incident is being investigated, state news agency Irna reported.
The police statement does not give details of what happened, but says that “enemies using psychological warfare tried to cause public anxiety and incite violence”.
The fact that the incident happened in public has led human rights activists to question what security forces might also be doing behind closed doors.
“Have you brought out the harassment of the girls of this land from [your] prisons into the open streets with the aim to shout out [at us] in public your obscenity, lechery and filth?” posted a social media user by the name of Atefeh.
Mistreatment, including sexual and psychological abuse, has been reported by many inmates, especially political prisoners, for years.
Many Iranians commented on social media that the video from Tehran had made them more determined to go out on the streets to protest, with one person saying they intended “to put their anger and fury into action”.
READ MORE
- How Iran’s protests transformed into a national uprising
- Russia is bruised as winter approaches. Can Ukraine land another blow?
- Ukraine war: Russia to evacuate civilians from Kherson
