Protests rocked at least 50 Iranian cities and spread to Western countries over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by Iran's morality police. Amini was arrested for allegedly breaking the country's rules on wearing the hijab . She died after she was taken into custody.
Protesters, angry at the circumstances of Amini's death, cut their own hair and burned headscarves even as police arrested and killed demonstrators in violent crackdowns. Pro-government advocates held their own counter-protests in Tehran, the country's capital.
Over 1,200 demonstrators during this wave of unrest were arrested by the Associated Press' count .
17 photos
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Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic’s morality police, in Istanbul, Sept. 20, 2022. Amini, 22, was on a visit with her family to the Iranian capital when she was detained by the police unit responsible for enforcing Iran’s strict dress code for women, including the wearing of the hijab in public.
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AFP via Getty Images
Iranian demonstrators take to the streets of Tehran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody, Sept. 21, 2022.
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AFP via Getty Images
Iranian demonstrators take to the streets of Tehran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody, Sept. 21, 2022.
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Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images
Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cuts off her ponytail during a protest outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Sept. 21, 2022, following the death of an Iranian woman after her arrest by the country’s morality police in Tehran.
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AFP via Getty Images
Iranians wave the Iranian national flag as they march during a pro-hijab rally in Tehran Sept. 23, 2022.
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Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
A man cuts his hair during a demonstration in support of Mahsa Amini in front of the Iranian embassy in Brussels, Sept. 23, 2022, following the death of an Iranian woman after her arrest by the country’s morality police in Tehran.
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Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
A protester cuts her hair during a protest in the front of the Iranian embassy in Brussels, Sept. 23, 2022. Protests in Iran and beyond continue in wake of Mahsa Amini’s death while in Iranian police custody. Amini, 22, was arrested for violating the country’s religious dress code for women.
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Yorgos Karahalis/AP
Demonstrators protest the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police, outside the European Commission representative office, in Athens, Greece, Sept. 24, 2022.
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Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images
People gather in protest against the death of Mahsa Amini, Sept. 24, 2022, in Rome, Italy. Iranian Mahsa Amini fell into a coma and died after being arrested in Tehran by the morality police, for allegedly violating the country’s strict religious dress codes for women.
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Safin Hamed/AFP via Getty Images
A man waves a Kurdish flag as he sits upon the shoulders of another during a demonstration denouncing the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini – who died while in the custody of Iranian authorities – outside the United Nations’ offices in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Sept. 24, 2022.
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Fredrik Persson/AFP via Getty Images
A woman cuts her hair during a demonstration in Sergels Torg in Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 24, 2022, following the death of an Iranian woman after her arrest by the country’s morality police in Tehran.
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AFP via Getty Images
Iranian pro-government protesters burn the flags of the United States, Israel and Britain during a rally against the recent anti-government protests in Tehran, Sept. 25, 2022. Iran’s judiciary chief vowed no leniency against the wave of unrest that has rocked the country since the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian, while in the custody of the country’s morality police.
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Vahid Salemi/AP
Pro-government demonstrators wave Iranian flags during their rally condemning recent anti-government protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the nation’s morality police, in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 25, 2022.
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Jeff Amy/AP
Iranian Americans gather in support of Iranian protesters, Sept. 25, 2022, in Atlanta. The demonstration comes amid violent unrest in Iran triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody.
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Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images
A protester holds a banner reading “This is the image of my people. Carry the voice of the Iranians” as she stands in front of riot police during a demonstration in support of Iranian protesters in Paris, Sept. 25, 2022.
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Alastair Grant/AP
Demonstrators protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Sept. 25, 2022. Protests in Iran and beyond were sparked by the death of Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in Iran after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating its strictly-enforced dress code.
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Ozan Guzelce via Getty Images
Women protest over the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini in front of the Iranian Consulate on Sept. 26, 2022 in Istanbul. Amini’s death has sparked weeks of violent protests across Iran.