Iran unrest takes new turn as schoolgirls join protests
A fresh episode was seen in raging protests across Iran as schoolgirls defiantly twirled headscarves and chanted against Iran's supreme leader, who ordered a crackdown on the protesters.
Demonstrations that started after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's morality police and rapidly grew into nationwide anti-government unrest entered their 19th day, taking a new turn not seen in previous Iranian protests.
One video after another was shared on social media showing teenage high school girls waving their headscarves and chanting "women, life, freedom" on the streets of Tehran and other major cities.
Many also tore, burned and stomped portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in classes and schoolyards. In one incident, a male education official approached the chanting girls before being booed, shamed and forced out.
In other daring slogans, the teenage girls shouted "clerics must get lost" as they burned headscarves, marking unprecedented moments in the history of the Islamic Republic. "Shame on you Sepahi," some chanted in Tehran's Naziabad district, using the Persian title for the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and called on them to "leave our country alone."
