Since Wednesday night, the crackdown on anti-hijab demonstrations has resulted in the deaths of at least eight demonstrators by the Iranian security forces. Amnesty International, a human rights organization, claims that security personnel fired on mourners and demonstrators, killing at least eight people.

Reports stated on Thursday that “Iran’s security forces killed at least eight people since last night when they once more opened fire on mourners and protesters.” The “reckless and unlawful use of firearms” was also denounced by the human rights organization.

On Wednesday, thousands of protesters marched through Mahsa Amini’s village to mark 40 days since her passing. It was alleged that Iranian security forces opened fire on the demonstrators.
Three days after the morality police detained Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish descent, in Tehran for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code for women, she passed away on September 16.

Thousands of mourners paid tribute to Amini on Wednesday in her western village, 40 days after she passed away in police custody, as the brutal attack in the southern city of Shiraz took place.

Amid the occupation of security forces against the citizens protesting, the top leader termed the instance as ‘riots’. In a statement on Thursday, the ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi seemed to draw a connection between the two catastrophes, saying that “the enemy’s objective is to impede the country’s growth, and then these ‘riots’ pave the stage for terrorist acts.”

In response to the horrific murder that occurred at the Shiite Muslim Shah Cheragh’s tomb during evening prayers and was claimed by the Sunni, Raisi promised “a severe response.”

Despite increased security, columns of mourners visited Amini’s hometown of Saqez in the Kurdistan province on Wednesday to pay their respects at her grave at the conclusion of the customary month of mourning.

Before several were seen leaving the governor’s office in the city center, where some were allegedly preparing to attack an army installation, mourners sang at the Aichi cemetery outside Saqez.

The Hengaw rights organization reported that “security personnel have fired tear gas and opened fire on people in Zindan plaza, Saqez city,” without mentioning any casualties or injuries.

An organization headquartered in Norway named Hengaw released a video showing security personnel firing on protestors in Marivan, Kurdistan region, after nightfall.

The rights organization reported that in the neighboring city of Bukan, where bonfires were burning in the streets, demonstrators were chanting “Death to the tyrant.”

In Sanandaj, a key city in the Kurdistan province, protesters also encircled a Basij militia base, setting fire to it and forcing security forces to retreat, it continued. Similar scenes could be seen in Ilam, which is close to Iran’s western border with Iraq.

The internet had been shut down in Saqez for “security concerns,” according to the Iranian ISNA news agency, and close to 10,000 people had congregated there.

However, in videos widely circulated online, many thousands more could be seen moving along a highway, across fields, and even across a river on foot, motorcycles, and cars.

Hengaw claimed to have verified photographs of mourners crammed the highway connecting Saqez to the cemetery, some eight kilometers (five miles) away, while chanting, clapping, and honking their cars’ horns.

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