Iranian police have announced they have opened an investigation into the behavior of some of its members after a video of them savagely beating a man was circulated amid protests following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini.
Since September 16, protests have taken place in Iran amid the death of 22-year-old Amini after she was arrested by the vice police in Tehran for not following the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Dozens of people have died on the sidelines of the protests, including members of the security forces, and hundreds of others have been arrested in movements that have included anti-government slogans and what officials are calling “riots.”
A video circulated on social media, apparently filmed from a mobile phone, in which OMON officers beat a man lying on the ground with sticks and kicks. The man tried to cover his head with his hands, while employees in protective equipment, including helmets, continued to beat him, and their colleagues stood next to them, not interfering with them.
In what turned out to be a long lane, there were more than ten motorcycles with riot police on board. In the latter parts, he heard from a distance what appeared to be the sound of gunshots before the officers rode off on their motorcycles, leaving the man lying motionless on the ground. Police said “an immediate special order has been issued to investigate the exact date and location of the incident and identify those involved in the incident,” according to a statement released by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday evening.
