Protests in Iran grew larger and louder this week, despite regime efforts to dismiss the movement as a Western propaganda effort, or crush it with police and militia violence.
Acts of defiance that were unthinkable a month ago have been reported across the country, while international support for the demonstrators grows stronger.
The BBC on Tuesday verified reports of schoolyard demonstrations in which young girls tore off their mandatory headscarves, extended their middle fingers to photos of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his predecessor Ruhollah Khomenei, and even chased a male education official out of a school in Karaj by pelting him with water bottles.
According to the BBC, teenage girls began joining the protests en masse within hours of Khamenei claiming the entire movement was orchestrated by the United States and Israel. Teenagers were also enraged by memorials for Nika Shahkarami, a 16-year-old Tehran resident who was kidnapped and killed by security forces in September.
