Iran blocks capital’s internet access as Amini protests grow - The Guardian

The protests, which were sparked on 16 September after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody, show no sign of subsiding.

In response to her death, the US placed Iran’s morality police on its sanctions blacklist on Thursday.

The US Treasury said the morality police were “responsible” for Amini’s death as it announced the sanctions “for abuse and violence against Iranian women and the violation of the rights of peaceful Iranian protesters”.

Demonstrators hurled stones at security forces, set fire to police vehicles and bins and chanted anti-government slogans, the official Irna news agency said.

On Thursday, Iranian media said three militiamen “mobilised to deal with rioters” were stabbed or shot dead in the north-western city of Tabriz, the central city of Qazvin and Mashhad in the north-east of the country.

A fourth member of the security forces died in the southern city of Shiraz, Iranian news agencies reported, adding that a protester was stabbed to death in Qazvin, adding to six protester deaths already announced by officials.

Amnesty International said it had recorded the deaths of eight people – six men, one woman and a child – with four shot by security forces at close range with metal pellets.

Social media has long been one of the key tools for anti-regime activity, as public spaces are closely policed by security forces.

“Platforms like Instagram became the virtual street, where we can gather to protest, because it was not possible to do that in real life,” said Shaghayegh Norouzi, an Iranian campaigner against gender-based violence who has been living in exile in Spain.

The early signs from the investigation showed there had been no beatings or violence that led to her death, he said.

He said deaths by police violence had occurred hundreds of times in the US, and also in the UK