Dubai: Videos emerging from Western Iran showed a large number of women protesting while attending the funeral of a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained by morality police to enforce hijab rules.
Women took off their hijab as they shouted antigovernmental slogans while the security forces shot tear gas to disperse them in Saqez, hometown of Mahsa Amini who died in a hospital in Tehran on Friday.
Social media videos showed crowds chanting "Death to the dictator" targeting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reuters reported that protests continued late into the night spreading further to the provincial capital, Sanandaj
Protesters were also heard chanting "Saqez is not alone, it's supported by Sanandaj" as they confronted riot police against the backdrop of sporadic gunshot.
Adding to the chaos following the woman's death, protesting youths set fire to tyres as well as throwing rocks at riot police across clouds of tear gas.
As authorities started investigating the death of Amini, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli reportedly denied the woman having been beaten.
Police, meanwhile, also rejected Amini was beaten, saying she became ill at the morality police station as she waited with other detained women. Police earlier said in another version that Amini had suffered a heart attack at the station where she was to be "educated"
It all began after rights activists urged women to publicly take off their veils. Removing headscarves in Iran amounts to "immoral behavior" and it involves risk of defying the Islamic dress code.
As women came to respond to the call, videos emerged showing severe police action against women who had removed their hijab.