Security is tense in Iran in anticipation of protests on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death, with her parents under house arrest and the regime diverting water from a nearby dam to block access to her hometown's cemetery.
Amjad Amini, Mahsa's father, was briefly detained on Saturday and subsequently placed under house arrest with his wife. This occurred amid a heavy security presence around their home in the Kurdish-majority city of Saqqez in western Iran.
According to online footage, city authorities have opened the gates of the Cheraghveis dam, located about 17 kilometers southwest of Saqqez. This diversion allows water from the dam's reservoir to flow through a river, effectively blocking access roads to the Ayyachi Cemetery, where Mahsa is buried. Mahsa, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, died in hijab police custody last year, sparking Iran's largest anti-regime protests. Security forces had already sealed off the main entrance to the cemetery on Friday.
On the eve of Mahsa's first death anniversary, people chanted slogans from their windows in Tehran and many other cities across the country. However, planned street protests for the day have been scarce due to the heavy presence of security forces.
Social media has been inundated with images and reports depicting an unprecedented security presence in Kurdish provinces and major cities, including Tehran, Karaj, Rasht, and Tabriz.
Grassroots activists in Tehran informed Iran International on Saturday that the city's main squares are crowded with military and an assortment of security forces, including many plainclothes agents. Military riot control vehicles are stationed every 10 meters in some locations, with black vans positioned to contain potential detainees in between. Some neighborhoods in the capital, with limited access to main streets, such as Ekbatan, have been completely cordoned off by vehicles as security forces patrol the area continuously.
Checkpoint inspections have been established at the entrances to all Kurdish-populated cities, resulting in significant traffic congestion and thorough searches of both passengers and vehicles.
Calls for action by foreign-based activists continue, with numerous Iranian expatriates holding gatherings in several European cities, including Brussels and Paris. Rallies were held in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan earlier in the day.
However, state media claim Amini's hometown of Saqqez was "completely quiet" and that calls for strikes and protests in Kurdish areas had failed due to "the presence of security and military forces".
IRNA quoted an official in the Kordestan province as saying, "A number of agents affiliated with counter-revolutionary groups who had planned to create chaos and prepare media fodder were arrested in the early hours of this morning."
In the protests that followed Amini's death more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested, rights groups said. Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.
Iran International covered events on Mahsa Amini's death anniversary on September 16. Below are videos and developments in Iran and abroad.
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People in the central city of Arak are out on streets in defiance of regime’s security measures.
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With nightfall across Iran, the number of protesters is increasing on streets. In this video from the northern city of Rasht, people are chanting “death to dictator,” referring to the Supreme Leader.
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While the internet is disrupted across the country, videos of Saturday’s protests are being published in the evening. In this video from earlier in the day, security forces are seen attacking people near Enghelab (revolution) square in Tehran.
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Anti-riot police on motorcycles armed with clubs and shotguns swarm the streets of Ekbatan district in Tehran. Person who posted the video says that one would think they have come to war against armed guerillas, but they have come to attack ordinary citizens.
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People singing traditional Kurdish songs at Mahsa Zhina Amini's grave near her hometown Saqqes.
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Video from earlier in the day in Mashhad shows clashes as a man is heard claiming that protesters are beating security forces as heavy congestion prevents backup forces to reach the square.
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Iranian expatriates in several Italian cities, including Rome, Milan and Bologna held rallies on the occasion of the death anniversary of Mahsa Amini.
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People in the city of Karaj, near the capital Tehran, are chanting "We are a great nation; we will reclaim Iran."
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Security forces are using fire department vehicles for crowd control in the city of Langarud in northern Gilan province.
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People in the city of Mashhad, known for its religious significance, are out on streets rallying in support of the Women, Life, Freedom protests while others express support with long honks from their cars.
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Iranians living in Sweden also marched in the streets of Malmo as they chanted the main slogans of the protests in Iran.
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To prevent movement of people between Kurdish-majority cities, security forces have blocked the road from the city of Baneh to Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, where security is intense in anticipation of large gatherings.
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Security forces are quick to attack to disperse people as they gather together to form groups. This video shows regime agents clashing with several people in front of the University of Tehran.
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In addition to a rally, the Iranian diaspora community in Australia held an event about the uprising in Iran where several Australian officials such as lawmaker Keith Wolahan delivered speeches about the prospects of a revolution in Iran.
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Iranian expatriates in several German cities such as Heidelberg and Frankfurt have held rallies in support of the Women, Life, Freedom movement, chanting slogans against the Islamic regime and its ruler Ali Khamenei.
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City authorities in the French capital Paris renamed a park to Jardin Villemin Mahsa Jina Amini during a ceremony attended by Iranian expatriates and Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, on the death anniversary of the main icon of Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom movement.
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Iranian diaspora community in the German city of Hanover held a gathering to commemorate the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s morality police and express solidarity with the Women, Life, Freedom movement.
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Security agents have already attacked people in Tehran's Revolution Street midday Saturday, beating and arresting passersby.
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Iranians in Denmark holding a rally on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of anti-regime protests.
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Many journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and members of ethnic minorities accused of links with the protest wave, as well as relatives of protesters killed in the unrest, have been arrested, summoned, threatened or fired from jobs in the past few weeks, according to Iranian and Western human rights groups.
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