FLAMES OF RAGE
Deadly protests spiral in Iran as dramatic new footage shows women burning hijabs over girl’s savage death by cops
VIOLENT protests have broken out across Iran after cops beat a woman to death for not following the country's strict hijab laws.
Female protestors have burned hijabs in the street and riots have broken out, with at least eight people killed in clashes with cops and counter-protestors.
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Unrest has been sparked after Mahsa Amini, 22, was battered to death by morality police after her arrest for not wearing the religious headscarf, which is legally required for Iranian women.
Officers of the Guidance Patrol, who enforce the clothing rules, claimed the young woman went into sudden heart failure at the police station and died on 16 September after two days in a coma.
However, eyewitnesses claimed she was beaten by cops and had her head slammed into the side of a police car.
Social media footage now shows the extent of the uprising over her death, with wild riots caught on camera.
Some women can be seen tearing off their hijabs and twirling them around their heads, as two are filmed throwing the legally-required garment onto a bonfire.
Demonstrators have clashed with police, hurling rocks and bottles, as well as setting fires in a number of cities of five days of protest.
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The response from the authorities has been harsh and members of paramilitary groups like the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militia have been spotted beating protestors with bats.
These groups are separate from the Iranian Army but have previously been used by the country's dictatorial Islamic regime to suppress protests.
Cops opened fire on protestors in Kurdistan Province, where Ms Amini was from, after her burial there on Saturday.
Footage showed women ripping off their headscarves in the streets and chanting "death to the Islamic republic!".
Despite the repressive violence, the protests have been making an impact and drawing huge crowds.
There have been reports of furious citizens tearing down images of the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Some could be heard shouting "death to the dictator" and pro-women's rights slogans.
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State media reported today that rallies had spread to 15 cities and up to 1,000 people had been arrested.
Human rights groups Article 19 said it was "deeply concerned by reports of the unlawful use of force by Iranian police and security forces."
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