Iranian mourners gathered Wednesday at the grave of Mahsa Amini to mark 40 days since her death, defying heightened security measures as part of a bloody crackdown on women-led protests.
Iranian security forces fired guns and launched tear gas at protesters in Saqez, the home town of Mahsa Amini, following commemorations for her death on Wednesday, the Hengaw rights group said.
"Security forces have shot tear gas and opened fire on people in Zindan square, Saqez city," Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Kurdistan, said on Twitter.
"Woman, life, freedom" and "Death to the dictator", hundreds of men and women chanted at the Aichi cemetery in Saqez, Amini's home town in the western province of Kurdistan, in videos shared online.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the notorious morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic dress code for women while visiting Tehran with her younger brother.
Anger flared at her funeral last month and quickly sparked the biggest wave of protests to rock the Islamic republic in almost three years. Young women and schoolgirls have led the charge, burning their hijab headscarves and confronting security forces on the street.
{{/usCountry}}Anger flared at her funeral last month and quickly sparked the biggest wave of protests to rock the Islamic republic in almost three years. Young women and schoolgirls have led the charge, burning their hijab headscarves and confronting security forces on the street.
{{/usCountry}}Read more: UK PM Rishi Sunak delays fiscal statement to make 'right decisions'
Overnight, the authorities stepped up security measures in Saqez, deploying personnel in a central square as well as reportedly shutting off entrances to the city.
Despite that, mourners headed to her graveside early on Wednesday to mark 40 days since her death -- the end of the traditional mourning period in Iran.
They made their way in cars, on motorbikes, and on foot along a highway, through fields and even across a river, in videos shared online by activists and human rights groups.
Hundreds of mourners had gathered at the cemetery located eight kilometres (five miles) outside Saqez, in images that the Hengaw rights group told AFP it had verified.