Tehran police break up 5,000-strong demonstration against women's oppression

Posted in PaulHampton's blog on ,

A demonstration by nearly 5,000 Iranian women and their supporters on 12 June in Tehran was broken up by police, according to reports from the Iranian Revolutionary Socialist League (IRSL).

The women demonstrated with placards, with slogans such as "The right to divorce, the right to give evidence, the right to judge, and all the other violated rights". The slogans “highlight the fundamental discrimination against women under the medieval legal system of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, said the IRSL.

The response of the security forces shows how seriously the regime took this protest: four mini-buses full of officers from the police and other repressive bodies of the state were present. They included female police officers who attacked the women using their batons and tear gas. In addition to beating the women, women's activists and their supporters, the security forces used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse the crowd and to stop any onlookers joining the demonstration.

Not since the counter-revolutionary wave of repression in the summer of 1981, and the subsequent consolidation of the Islamic regime's power, have women, who played a crucial role in the revolution, held such a large demonstration.

This unprecedented demonstration was the result of weeks of organising by a number of women activists. Using the internet and other means they had announced that they would be holding a demonstration in Haft-e Tir Square to protest against the legalised discrimination and harassment of women in Iran. The way the demonstration was publicised on websites is bound to set an example for future protests of all exploited and oppressed layer in Iran.

According to news agency Advar News, 60 demonstrators including journalists, writers and student activists were arrested. Members of the Vahed Bus Company trade union also took part in the demonstration.

More information: Iranian Revolutionary Socialist League

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