Iran police disperse pro-hijab protesters outside parliament

TEHRAN: Iranian police have dispersed a weeks-long sit-in by demonstrators supporting the mandatory head covering for women, state media reported, after authorities deemed the gathering illegal.

The demonstrators — largely women in black full-body robes — staged the sit-in since last month outside the parliament building in Tehran.

Since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, women have been required to conceal their hair in public. However, increasing numbers, particularly in major cities including the capital Tehran, have pushed the boundaries by allowing the covering to slide back.

The protesters were calling for the implementation of a bill imposing tougher penalties on women who refuse to wear the covering, known as a hijab.

Parliament approved the bill in September 2023. It triggered heated debate in the country, was not submitted to the government for final approval, and has since been shelved.

“After numerous negotiations with the relevant authorities and the protesters, they were requested to disperse and refrain from causing disruption, blocking roads, and creating traffic congestion for citizens,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said late Saturday.

“A large number of the protesters complied with the police order and left the area but unfortunately a small number (around 30 individuals) resisted”, Mizan added.

It published a video showing an altercation between the demonstrators and security forces ordering them to leave the area.

The official IRNA news agency said the “illegal” sit-in had been in place for around 48 days.

Officially known as the “Law on Supporting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab”, the bill would have imposed tougher penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory hijab.

It also required significant fines and prison sentences for those deemed to be promoting “nudity” or “indecency”.

Parliament passed the bill around a year after mass demonstrations began in Iran triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd. She had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.

Increasing numbers of women have flouted the law since then.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani in January said the bill was shelved as it “could have had serious social consequences”.