In Iran
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This may be the "tip point" that @George-K mentioned.
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Or it may not, but it's a step in the right direction.
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Iranian lawmakers have urged the country’s judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters in a letter cited by state-run Press TV on Sunday, as thousands of people continue to rally on the streets despite the threat of arrest.
The Islamic Republic is facing one of the biggest and unprecedented shows of dissent following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the morality police allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.
In an open letter signed by 227 of Iran’s 290 members of Parliament, Press TV reports the lawmakers calls for protesters to be taught a “good lesson” to deter others who threaten the authority of the Iranian government.
“We, the representatives of this nation, ask all state officials, including the Judiciary, to treat those, who waged war (against the Islamic establishment) and attacked people’s life and property like the Daesh (terrorists), in a way that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time,” the letter read according to state-run Press TV.
Lawmakers added that such a punishment – the methods of which were not specified – would “prove to all that life, property, security and honor of our dear people is a red line for this (Islamic) establishment, and that it would show no leniency to anybody in this regard.”
Iran has charged at least 1,000 people in Tehran province for their alleged involvement in the nationwide protests over Amini’s death, the largest such show of dissent in years, state news agency IRNA has reported. Their trials are public and have been underway for more than a week.
Javaid Rehman, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, told the UN Security Council last week that as many as 14,000 people, including journalists, activists, lawyers and educators, had been arrested since protests erupted in Iran in mid-September.
Rehman said the “unabated violent response of security forces” had caused at least 277 deaths.
The recent death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Nasrin Qadri sparked a wave of protests in her hometown Marivan on Sunday, with the Kurdish rights group Hengaw Organization for Human Rights and activist outlet IranWire alleging that she had “suffered severe injuries” from baton blows to the head wielded by Iranian security forces.
Her cause of death has been disputed; the public prosecutor in Shahriyar, a town about half-an-hour outside Tehran where Qadri reportedly lived, said that the initial medical diagnosis for her cause of death was poisoning, adding that according to a family statement, she had a prior illness as well, as reported by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
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Iranian forces fire live ammunition and raid homes
Iranian security forces swept through the country’s Kurdish region with helicopters and armored vehicles, firing live ammunition and raiding homes in search of opponents, a show of force that demonstrates how the government’s response to a two-month-old protest movement is taking a more violent turn.
Protesters in Mahabad and surrounding areas filled city streets Saturday, according to authorities and witnesses. After rumors swirled on social media that authorities were gearing up to attack, balaclava-clad protesters wearing makeshift helmets set bins on fire, according to footage posted by Tavaana, a U.S.-based Iranian civic organization, and other social media accounts. Protesters then barricaded a key artery in Mahabad with cinder blocks and wooden doors, according to witnesses and the footage.
In response, Iranian authorities deployed heavily armed military forces into the city, according to media close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, human-rights groups and witnesses. Local activists and human-rights groups said troops had fired at civilians and raided homes looking for opponents.
“I have witnessed hundreds of people being shot at [by the regime forces] and they have been severely injured,” said Soma, 29, a nurse in Mahabad who said she had treated many of the wounded in the past two days. Soma said the city was “militarized,” describing how armored vehicles and tanks had entered the city. Regime forces “have told the people that anyone who leaves the house will be fired at,” she said.
Regime forces “show no mercy,” said an activist from Mahabad. “Houses are full of injured protesters,” he said. He said one of his relatives died from untreated wounds Saturday after being shot by the security forces. The relative spent two days in hiding for fear of being arrested if he went to the hospital, said the Mahabad activist.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Iranian forces fire live ammunition and raid homes
Iranian security forces swept through the country’s Kurdish region with helicopters and armored vehicles, firing live ammunition and raiding homes in search of opponents, a show of force that demonstrates how the government’s response to a two-month-old protest movement is taking a more violent turn.
Protesters in Mahabad and surrounding areas filled city streets Saturday, according to authorities and witnesses. After rumors swirled on social media that authorities were gearing up to attack, balaclava-clad protesters wearing makeshift helmets set bins on fire, according to footage posted by Tavaana, a U.S.-based Iranian civic organization, and other social media accounts. Protesters then barricaded a key artery in Mahabad with cinder blocks and wooden doors, according to witnesses and the footage.
In response, Iranian authorities deployed heavily armed military forces into the city, according to media close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, human-rights groups and witnesses. Local activists and human-rights groups said troops had fired at civilians and raided homes looking for opponents.
“I have witnessed hundreds of people being shot at [by the regime forces] and they have been severely injured,” said Soma, 29, a nurse in Mahabad who said she had treated many of the wounded in the past two days. Soma said the city was “militarized,” describing how armored vehicles and tanks had entered the city. Regime forces “have told the people that anyone who leaves the house will be fired at,” she said.
Regime forces “show no mercy,” said an activist from Mahabad. “Houses are full of injured protesters,” he said. He said one of his relatives died from untreated wounds Saturday after being shot by the security forces. The relative spent two days in hiding for fear of being arrested if he went to the hospital, said the Mahabad activist.
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The regime is clearly scared. Well that the foul bastards should be.
