Iranians held several protests across Iran during the country's traditional fire festival, ahead of the Persian New Year, killing over two dozen people and injuring over 4,300, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Videos have been circling the internet showing groups of Iranians protesting and chanting anti-regime things, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). The protesters would throw headscarves into the bonfires and would also burn pictures of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and chant "Freedom, freedom, freedom," according to The Washington Post.
The Washington Post reported that in one of the videos, some women were burning headscarves in the fires, while others were setting off fireworks at security forces that were riding motorcycles.
The fire festival, or Chaharshanbe Suri in Farsi, is a festival that is believed to have originated over 2,500 years ago during the Achaemenid era, with Zoroastrianism, an ancient Iranian religion, roots embedded in it. The festival is normally celebrated on the last Wednesday before Nowruz which marks the end of winter.
On the night of the festival, families and friends get together and gather around bonfires that are lit in the middle of public areas. One of the most important rituals of the festival is jumping over the bonfire as a way to ward off bad spirits or to even bring good luck, according to an Iranian blogger. According to AFP, the festival is frowned upon by the Shiite clerical establishment.
For years, the Iranian government pushed off and discouraged any fire festivals from happening due to its "pre-Islamic roots" as well as fearing the Iranian people would use it as a way to protest. This year, however, the protests at the fire festival are significant due to the Iranian regime's harsh "crackdown" on arresting protesters.
Protests began in September after the death of Mahsa Amini
Iran has been facing months of protests ever since the death of the young 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who died while in police custody. She died three days after she was arrested in the hospital after falling into a coma in September, Reuters reported.
Authorities deny beating Amini and insisted in a statement that she died due to sudden heart failure, possibly from preexisting conditions. Amini's family, on the other hand, has denied that she had any previous health issues.