Swiss protests continue against Iranian repression

The demonstrations in Switzerland are in support of protests in Iran which have continued despite crackdowns by the authorities there. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Hundreds of people have again taken to the streets of Swiss cities in solidarity with Iranians protesting repression in their country.

For the third Saturday in a row, demonstrations took place in the afternoon in Zurich and Bern under the slogan “give a voice to the Iranian protest”. A few hundred people gathered in Zurich and nearly 500 in Bern, according to Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA. In Lausanne, some 200 people demonstrated late Friday afternoon.

The ongoing protests in Iran were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died after being taken into custody. She was arrested by the morality police for violating Iran’s strict Islamic dress code. Activists say she was ill-treated by police during her arrest and later died in hospital. Iranian authorities said she died of heart failure related to a previous illness.

While the protests were initially directed against the compulsory wearing of headscarves, they quickly turned to questioning Iran’s system of Islamic governance.

According to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organisation, more than 100 people have already been killed during the protests in Iran. According to Amnesty International, at least 23 minors are among the victims.