A massive crowd cheers as a woman lifts a pair of scissors to her hair exposed, without a hijab in sight as the unrest continued for a fifth night and spread to more cities. Iran has seen protests in cities and towns over the past four days in the wake of the police killing of a young woman.

The protests began in western Iran in the Kurdistan region of the country but they have spread to Tehran, Mashhad and other cities in the last two nights. The protesters have generally been seen clashing with police and plainclothes security and also gathering in large numbers at night. In many cases, women have been at the forefront of the protests.

Amini is a Kurdish woman and she was detained while on a trip to Tehran, accused by police of not covering her hair in the manner the theocratic regime desired. She was then beaten and fell into a coma and died last week. The regime has tried to calm crowds, claiming the death was an accident and that she died of heart failure or pre-existing conditions. But what caused her death was the police detention.  

The protests began in the Kurdistan region of Iran where minority Kurds have faced oppression for decades. This gives the protests two overlapping causes; the suppression of women and the suppression of minorities. The protests reveal the degree to which people despise the regime and are willing to take to the streets to show their anger. A number of videos posted online reveal the depth of this anger.

Based on reports, there was at least one instance of a heavy-handed police response on Tuesday, near Iran’s Enghelab Square on the western side of Tehran University historically a rallying point for protests. “Two young men were hit and beaten up by plainclothes police and anti-riot police, then dragged to the van in front of (the) subway entrance gate” the reports added.

Furthermore, at least five protesters were fatally shot during demonstrations in the Kurdish region over the past few days, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norwegian-registered organization monitoring rights violations in Iran. It said another 75 were injured in other cities over the weekend.