"Watch out for the hijab, they're here!", a man whispered in Xima's ear, who at noon yesterday had stopped in front of one of the juice stalls in Tehran's grand bazaar to take forces after a day of shopping. "People are very supportive, they try to warn you when they see the police and many confront them to prevent them from taking us to the vans", explained this 36-year-old woman who despite the tension around the bazaar , with the patrols, refused to cover his head.
"They are trying again, but I don't think they will succeed", said Xima with a smile. "I already took it off, I don't plan to put it back on," she continued to explain while her shopping partner Zahra, a doctor anesthesiologist and mother of two children, was adjusting her scarf. "Since Saturday they have filled the streets again", he pointed out.
He was referring to the patrols of the morality police, men and women dressed in strict chador, who grew in fame and notoriety since the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. One of these groups l 'had arrested her when she was leaving the metro and the young woman, 22 years old, suffered an attack already at the police station. When he arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious, and days later he died. Some versions claim that he received blows when he was in the van, the same ones that are seen again in strategic places in Tehran and other cities.
They never actually left, but from then on they just approached women – thousands of women, who have since removed their veils in protest – to ask them to cover up , or to take pictures of it. Many were then summoned to the police station via text messages to sign a statement that they would not do it again.
But amid the crisis with Israel, as the country wondered how and when Iran would respond, police began a campaign unprecedented since the death of Mahsa Amini to force women to return to the strict dress code. islamic The instruction was given by the supreme leader, who days after the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus - in which seven members of the Guardians of the Revolution died -, when he had already talked about responding to the attack on Israel, took advantage of two public interventions to emphasize the need to enforce the hijab. "To defend moral values and religious norms", he justified. The police announced hours later that from last Saturday they would start the new campaign which included a fine – particularly high for the Iranian economy – for those who break the rules. Those who are arrested for the first time will have to pay 3 million tomans, about 45 euros. Many argue that in addition to the cost, what they fear most is the humiliation and embarrassment they have to go through. More and more are publishing stories on the networks in which they explain how they have been detained and humiliated in recent days.
“They try to demoralize people with money. They have created this economic situation in which we are poorer every day; if we go to war, the dollar will rise even more, but even so they put pressure on us", explained Massumeh, who was shopping with her daughter at the bazaar yesterday. The daughter refused to cover herself despite the risks.
Yesterday the patrols were seen all over the city, but especially in the central Valiasr square, where the authorities deployed a large fence showing the missiles launched by Iran. "Israel is weaker than a spider's web", reads the slogan. Dozens of police motorbikes were parked under the missiles and the name of each one.
"I don't understand why now, when we are all afraid of what could happen. This just shows that they are afraid of people and want to make them think about something else," explained Sima, 42, who sells sunglasses. He explained that in the morning he saw an old woman being taken away, with white hair, because she was wearing a skirt that showed part of her leg. "They took her between several women and put her in the car", he explained. The fear of being arrested is so great that yesterday she held the veil with several clamps so that it would not fall. "I have a son that I haven't sent to school since Sunday for fear of what Israel might do. I can't let them arrest me", he explained. According to her, many of the people she knows are very afraid of the response to Iran that Israel has already announced.
But the pressure isn't just limited to women. Several journalists have received threats for saying that Iran's action could lead to a bigger war. And the intelligence of the Guardians of the Revolution has asked the population to denounce those who want to attack the tranquility of society.
