AKIPRESS.COM - A second woman has been arrested in Iran for protesting against the country’s compulsory hijab rules after standing on a telecoms box on a Tehran street, taking off her headscarf and holding it aloft on a stick, The Guardian reports.
The protest follows a similar action last month against the country’s requirement that women cover themselves from head to toe in public.
Pictures posted on social media on Monday showed at least three other women standing on top of telecoms boxes in Tehran in apparent solidarity with the women, including one near Ferdowsi Square.
A widely shared smartphone image of the first protest showed a young woman standing on a telecoms box on Enghelab Street in the centre of the Iranian capital. The woman was later identified as 31-year-old Vida Movahed.
Movahed’s act of resistance coincided with a wave of protests that spread across the country. Although they were not directly linked, her action embodied the aspirations of a movement of young Iranians frustrated with the lack of social and political freedoms.
Many Iranians, including men, changed their social media profile pictures to images inspired by Movahed’s protest, and shared a hashtag that translated as “the girl of Enghelab Street”.
A courageous symbol of civil protest against the hijab forced on women in Iran for decades.
— Oliver Jazayeri (@Oliver_jazayeri) January 29, 2018
pic from: Seyedkhandan - Tehran, Iran#HijabForced #ForcedVeil#WhiteWednesdays#GirlsOfRevolutionSt#چهارشنبه_های_سفید#دختران_خیابان_انقلاب pic.twitter.com/59ghmJjdoP
A 2nd woman arrested in #Iran for protesting forced #hijab by taking off her headscarf.
— Armin Navabi (@ArminNavabi) January 29, 2018
Name: Narges Hosseini #نرگس_حسینی
Women are removing their hijab, posting it with the hashtag #دختران_خیابان_انقلاب meaning #GirlsOfRevolutionSt where #VidaMovahed first took off her hijab. pic.twitter.com/lLbeI5TZMo
Another brave Iranian woman who makes speech.#دختران_خیابان_انقلاب pic.twitter.com/fQlmpLxYI4
— Pantea Modiri (@PanteaModiri) January 29, 2018