Iranian Teachers Announce Strike In Protest Over Anti-Headscarf Deaths And Detention Of Students

As many in Iran continue to protest stringent laws over women’s rights, a teacher’s union in the country has announced a strike on Thursday as a way of protesting the killings of many young students participating in the event by Iranian authorities.

The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations in Iran released a series of Telegram messages denouncing the current government’s policy of repressing the protests by doing a “sit-in” on Sunday and Monday, according to KION 46 News.

“We know very well that the military, security and private forces are invading the privacy of schools and educational spaces. During this systematic repression, they have cruelly taken the lives of a number of students and children in the most cruel way,” the statement said. “Rulers should know that the community of Iranian teachers do not tolerate these atrocities and brutality.”

In the message that they sent announcing the strike, they also mentioned the names of multiple students who were killed during the protests. On Oct. 8, for example, senior student Abolfazl Adinezade was reportedly shot 24 times in the abdomen by security forces.

Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based organization, said that the security forces have killed over 27 children so far, and that many of those forced into prison as Iran cracked down on protesters were teachers and children, the Times of Israel reported.

Amnesty International themselves have recorded over 23 students being killed between Sept. 20 and 30, which was said to be “20 boys aged between 11 and 17; and three girls, two of whom were 16 years old and one 17 years old​.”

The protests, which started due to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while under the custody of Iran’s morality police, have found women leading multiple generations of people together under a common goal of reform, in what’s been called as “the biggest threat the [Iranian] regime has faced to date,” CNN reported.

“We know very well that the military and security forces and plainclothes (officers) have violated schools and educational centers,” the Iranian teachers’ union said. “During this systematic oppression, they have mercilessly taken the lives of a number of students and children; from Nika (Shahkarami) and Sarina (Esmailzade), to Abolfazl (Adinezade) and Asra Panahi.”