In Pictures: Anti-veil protests go beyond Iran

Women protests against the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died while in police custody in Iran, in front of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating its strictly-enforced dress code. (AP Photo)

Iran has seen multiple eruptions of protests over the past years, many of them fueled by anger over economic difficulties. But the new wave is showing fury against something at the heart of the identity of Iran’s cleric-led state: the compulsory veil. Here in picture, an Iranian woman cuts a lock of her hair during a rally against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini in Bern, Switzerland. (Picture source: AP)

A woman holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Justice for Mahsa Amini" as she protests against the death of Amini. Iran’s Islamic Republic requires women to cover up in public, including wearing a “hijab” or headscarf that is supposed to completely hide the hair. (AP Photo)

Many Iranian women, especially in major cities, have long played a game of cat-and-mouse with authorities, with younger generations wearing loose scarves and outfits that push the boundaries of conservative dress. Women activists shout slogans as they protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Kolkata, India. (AP Photo)

A 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by morality police in the capital Tehran and died in custody. Her death has sparked nearly two weeks of widespread unrest that has reached across Iran’s provinces and brought students, middle-class professionals and working-class men and women into the streets. In the picture, protesters shout slogans as they hold photos of Iranian Mahsa Amini during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (AP Photo)

Iranian state TV has suggested that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed. An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 13 dead, with more than 1,400 demonstrators arrested. A demonstrator holds a photo of Iranian Mahsa Amini during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus. (AP Photo)

An Iranian woman burns her headscarf during a rally. Modern Iranian history has been full of unexpected twists and turns. Iranian women who grew up before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1979 remember a country where women were largely free to choose how they dressed. ( AP)

A century or more ago, strict veiling was largely limited to Iran’s upper classes. Most women were in rural areas and worked, “so hijab wasn’t exactly possible” for them, said Esha Momeni, an Iranian activist and scholar affiliated with UCLA’s Gender Studies Department. (AP)

From Tehran’s universities to far-flung Kurdish towns, men and women protesters have chanted, “Whoever kills our sister, we will kill them.” (AP Photo)