ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five children were amongst around three dozen people who were wounded after Iranian plain clothes officers fired on a group of protesters in the city of Sanandaj on Friday night from a vehicle as the ongoing protests see no sign of abetting seven weeks after they began.
Videos of a bloodied child screaming from pain was published on Saturday by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (HRN) which covers human rights violations in the Kurdish areas. The incident happened in Mobarak Abad neighborhood in the city which has seen constant protests since the killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in custody on September 16 by the morality police.
The attack on protesters comes two days after security forces hit Sarina Saedi, a 16-year-old girl, in the head with batons in Sanandaj, leaving her severely wounded. She died of her injuries later that night.
At least 253 protesters have been killed across Iran, including 34 children, with thousands of others wounded. Many are not taking their wounded to hospital for fear of arrests, human rights activists say.
“Very worried about rising fatalities & injuries to protesters & other civilians in #Iran. It’s essential that unfettered access to health care is provided to those in need, incl. the appropriate use of medical vehicles, facilities & the ability of health workers to help patients,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted on Friday.
Attacks on university dormitories have gone up in recent weeks as security forces and plain clothes agents try to intimidate students not to take part in protests. Large number of security forces on motorbikes attacked the dormitory of the Medical Sciences University in Sanandaj on Friday night and fired tear gas and pellet guns into the building, wounding several students. Despite the violent attacks on Friday, hundreds of students from the university in the city came out on Saturday and chanted “death to the dictator.”
One student was seriously wounded by the security forces, suffering a severe head injury and a video published by Hengaw human rights organisation showed the injured student being carried out outside the university.
Another footage of the crackdown from repressive forces in #Kurdistan University of medical Sciences.
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) October 29, 2022
Saturday, October 29#ZhinaAminipic.twitter.com/hsb5FfYHDB
Shopkeepers across different cities in the Kurdish region went on strike on Saturday, closing their shops as other funerals took place across Iran and thousands of students in Tehran, Mashhad, Kermanshah and other major cities protested and chanted against dictatorship. Students at Jundishapur university in Ahvaz protested and condemned the abduction of four students from their dormitory on Friday night.
On Friday, tens of thousands of people came out in the city of Zahedan in southeast Iran and several other cities in the Baluchestan region, protesting against the killing of other protesters. Baloch Activists Campaign said that at least two protesters were killed and many more were wounded.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami warned protesters not to take to the streets any more and accused the US government and Saudi Arabia of being behind the protest.
“On this land, we do not allow anyone to cause insecurity, therefore do not mistake the system’s self-restraint,” salami said. “End the mischief. Today is the last day of riots and do not come to the streets anymore, what do you want from this nation? Do not destroy your future,” he said.
“Death to IRGC,” mourners in the city of Arak chanted during the funeral of a young student Mehrshad Shahidi who was killed under torture, videos published on telegram channels showed and the security forces responded with tear gas.
