International writing (EFE).- Several cases of poisoning in women’s educational centers sparked protests this Sunday in Saqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose death after being arrested for wearing the Muslim veil improperly sparked a revolt against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Confrontations are taking place between the population and government forces in the city,” reported Hengaw, an Oslo-based Iranian-Kurdish NGO.
Activists shared on social networks videos of blocked roads and protesters in front of schools shouting slogans against the Islamic Republic in Saqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, an area that has suffered strong protests in recent months.
Protesters chanted “death to Khamenei”, in reference to the supreme leader of the religious regime, and went so far as to remove Iranian flags from a building, according to viral videos.
Activists also shared images of parents carrying their daughters after their high school was gassed.
Other cities such as Isfahan or Sanandaj also suffered attacks this Sunday with an alleged gas, according to activist groups such as 1500tasvir.
New poisonings in Iran spark protests amid tense atmosphere after Amini’s death
Iran has suffered a wave of gas poisonings that began in late November in the holy city of Qom and multiplied in February and March.
After a break during the holidays of the Persian New Year or Nowuz, gas attacks have reappeared in Iranian schools and institutes.
Around 5,000 female students from 230 educational centers in 25 of the Iranian provinces would have been affected, according to data provided in March by parliamentarian Mohammad-Hassan Asafari, a member of a commission investigating the poisonings.
The Iranian government has arrested more than 100 people for their alleged responsibility in the poisonings, which it has attributed to enemies of the country.
The poisonings are causing new tensions in the Persian country and some parents link them to the protests with a marked feminist tone in recent months, which had calmed down after strong state repression.
The students of schools and institutes participated in these protests, took off their veils, shouted “woman, life, freedom” and made contemptuous gestures at portraits of Khamenei and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruholá Khomeini.
