TEHRAN — Iranian riot police opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside the western city of Khorramabad as they marked 40 days since the death of teenage girl Nika Shakarami.  

According to opposition media outlets and viral videos on social media, security forces shot bullets and tear gas at rock-throwing protesters at the cemetery, but it was not immediately clear if there had been casualties.  

The protesters were earlier heard chanting slogans against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “This is the last message, the target is the establishment,” they shouted, indicating that the ongoing protests were meant to topple the Islamic Republic. Elsewhere, they were collectively singing a famous traditional song, “O mother, it’s war time,” in the local Lori dialect.  

Nika died last month in the early days of the unrest that was sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in Tehran. Her case has been one of the most complicated among the deceased protesters, grabbing worldwide media attention. Iranian authorities say she fell off a five-story building in central Tehran, but her mother, Nasrin Shakarami, has told foreign media that Nika was killed hours after she attended a protest in Tehran. Shakarami has confirmed her daughter’s identity in a video that went viral after her death, showing her on an upturned litter bin, twirling her burning headscarf at a chaotic protest at Tehran’s Laleh Park.