This is a broad timeline of the ongoing series of protests against the government of Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini () on 16 September 2022. Amini had fallen into a coma after having been detained by the Guidance Patrol, allegedly for wearing an "improper" hijab—in violation of Iran's mandatory hijab law—while visiting Tehran from Saqqez.
Protests have largely subsided since Spring 2023, with sporadic protests and gatherings occurring since, notably the stripping of the Science and Research Girl in November 2024.
2022 16 September According to MEMRI, protesters chanted "I will kill whoever killed my sister!" According to human rights groups cited by The Guardian, security forces used pepper spray and arrested several of the protestors gathered outside Kasra hospital, where Amini had been pronounced dead.
17 September Amini was buried in the morning of 17 September in her hometown, Saqqez. According to The Guardian, hundreds of people reportedly gathered at the funeral in defiance of official warnings. Some yelled anti-government slogans such as "death to the dictator" and "woman, life, freedom".How 'Women, Life, Freedom' Unified All the People of Iran , MJALLAH, 14 October 2022Women, Life, Freedom, History Today, 11 November 2022 According to the BBC, some women at the funeral removed their hijabs in protest. When protesters marched toward the local governor's office, security forces opened fire on protesters. Protests spread to the provincial capital, Sanandaj. Unverified social media posts showed crowds chanting "Saqez is not alone, it's supported by Sanandaj"; youths setting fire to tires; and protesters throwing rocks at riot police across clouds of tear gas. One man appeared to have a head injury, possibly caused by birdshot. Protesters in Saqqez tore down posters of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The Guardian reported that Iran was curtailing Internet access following Amini's death, and also that Kurdish organizations were calling for a general strike.
The inscription on Amini's tombstone became a slogan of the protests:
18 September The people of Sanandaj continued protesting, chanting the slogans "death to the dictator", "our shame, our shame / our bastard leader", and "death to Khamenei". Female protesters continued to take off their hijabs. According to unconfirmed sources quoted by the BBC, security forces fired on the demonstrators.Mehsa Amini; The second night of protests in Sanandaj and Raisi's contact with Amini's family , (in Persian) 18 September 2022 A number of students from Tehran University held a protest rally with placards in their hands.
19 September The government cut off mobile internet service in central Tehran. According to videos on social media, protests continued in downtown Tehran, Rasht and Isfahan, as well as in Western Kurdish territory. According to Hengaw, a Nordic organization that monitors human rights in Iran, three protesters were killed by security forces in Kurdistan province.
A 23-year-old man named Farjad Darvishi was killed by police while protesting in Urmia. He was allegedly shot by police security agents during the demonstration, and died from his wounds on his way to the hospital.
20 September According to the Voice of America, unconfirmed social media videos showed anti-government protests in at least 16 of Iran's 31 provinces, including "Alborz, East Azerbaijan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Isfahan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Razavi Khorasan, Tehran, and West Azerbaijan." Iranian state media reported that three people had been killed in Kurdistan protests. According to Hengaw, two male protesters, one of them sixteen years old, were killed by security forces in West Azerbaijan, and a female protester was similarly killed in Kermanshah. The prosecutor in Kermanshah denied state responsibility, stating that people were being killed by "anti-revolutionary elements". Iranian state media reported a police assistant's death from protesters in Shiraz. In Kerman, a woman was filmed removing her hijab and cutting off her ponytail during a protest. Some witnesses interviewed by CNN characterized the day's protests as "flash protests" that sought to form and then to disperse quickly before security forces could intervene.
21 September According to an alleged leaked document later obtained by Amnesty International, the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces ordered commanders to "severely confront troublemakers and anti-revolutionaries".
According to Hengaw, a man allegedly shot by security forces two days earlier died from his injuries. Hengaw stated that a total of ten demonstrators had been killed by security forces; Amnesty International said it had confirmed eight of those deaths. Amnesty International also condemned what it called the "unlawful use of birdshot and other munitions" against the protesters. WhatsApp and Instagram, the only mainstream social media and messaging apps permitted in Iran, were restricted by the government; in addition, there was a widespread internet shutdown, especially on mobile networks. Iran's Basij, a state militia, held pro-government counter-rallies in Tehran. Demonstrations of solidarity with the protesters were held in other countries; including Canada, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States.
According to Iran International, there was a brief exchange of fire between the Iran Army Ground Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Saqqez. According to two semi-official Iranian news agencies, a member of the Basij was stabbed to death in Mashhad. According to a later Amnesty International report, 34 people were killed across Iran on 21 September.
Starting on 21 September, Iranian mobile operators regularly shut down their users' Internet access every day from 4 pm local time until about midnight. As of 30 September, this pattern was still continuing.
22 September Protesters in Tehran and other cities burned police stations and cars. The protests continued despite widespread internet outages throughout Iran.Iran blocks capital's internet access as Amini protests grow , The Guardian, 23 September 2022 Iranian state media stated that at least 17 people had been killed to date, while the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights NGO counted at least 31 civilians dead.
The international Anonymous hacktivist collective claimed it had hacked at least 100 Iranian websites (including several belonging to the Iranian government) and compromised over 300 CCTV cameras by exploiting a vulnerability.
Intelligence agents raided the home of Iranian journalist Niloofar Hamedi for photographing and posting a photo of Amini's parents hugging each other at the hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.
23 September Heavy fighting was reported in Isfahan at dusk. Universities were closed, and shifted to virtual teaching mode. It was reported that in Oshnavieh, after days of very heavy protesting and clashing, protestors took control of the city; however the Iranian government denied this.
The same day, people in several cities across Iran participated in state-organised pro-government rallies in support of the hijab and the government. The rally in Tehran was attended by thousands. According to a live state television broadcast, demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", reflecting Iran's clerical rulers' usual narrative of putting the blame of the unrest on foreign countries. The pro-government demonstrators also vocally expressed their desire for the anti-government protesters to be executed, and referred to the anti-government protesters as "Israel's soldiers". The government claimed that the rallies were spontaneous. Security forces in Iran always support state-organised gatherings, which are widely covered by Iran's state television and media; anti-government protests on the other hand, in which demonstrators chant against the establishment, are not sanctioned and are dispersed by security forces.
According to an alleged document later leaked to Amnesty International, the commander of Mazandran province gave orders to "confront mercilessly, going as far as causing deaths, any unrest by rioters and anti-Revolutionaries".
The United States Department of State issued a general license allowing US corporations access to the Iranian internet market. In response, American entrepreneur Elon Musk said that he would activate his satellite internet firm, Starlink, to provide internet services to Iran. Although the updated license did not cover hardware supplied by Starlink, the firm and other similar companies can apply for permission to the US Treasury.
24 September
Heavy protests in the contested city of Oshnavieh continued. Protests also continued in front of Tehran University and in Shiraz.Continuation of protests , Iran International, 24 September 2022 Iranians living abroad marched in support of the Iranian people in various cities, including Erbil, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Melbourne.Last News , Radio Farda, 24 September 2022Kurdish protesters rally in Erbil over Mahsa Amini's death , Reuters, 24 September 2022Protests Erupt Around The World Following Death Of Mahsa Amini While In Custody In Iran , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Radio Liberty, 24 September 2022
Inside Gilan province, police and Iran's Revolutionary Guard arrested 739 people, including at least 60 women. 88 guns were found and confiscated in Khuzestan province. The IRGC made multiple arrests in Kerman.
A 22-year-old woman, Hadis Najafi, who took part in the protest action in the city of Karaj, died from six bullet wounds in the chest, face and neck. Before her death, she appeared in a video showing her standing without a headscarf in front of a protest.
The New York Times reported that security forces were "opening fire on the crowds" in multiple cities, and stated "The videos posted online and the scale of the response from the authorities are difficult to independently verify, but video and photographs sent by witnesses known to The New York Times were broadly in line with the images being posted widely online." The Committee to Protect Journalists reported at least 11 journalists arrested, including Niloofar Hamedi, the reporter who originally broke Amini's story.
25 September Protests continued in various parts of Tehran (Narmak, Ekbatan, Valiasr, Aryashahr), Karaj (Mehrshahr and Gohardasht), Sanandaj, Qaen, Kashmar, and Babol despite the widespread outage of the internet network in Iran. Also, protests against the Iranian government continued in different cities of the world such as London, Brussels, and New York City.Young Iranians are rising up against decades of repression – arguably bolder than ever , CNN News, 25 September 2022Protests spread in Iran as President Raisi vows to crack down , The Guardian, 25 September 2022Iran protests: Raisi to 'deal decisively' with widespread unrest , BBC News, 25 September 2022Iran Protests Surge to Dozens of Cities , The New York Times, 25 September 2022Iran will act decisively after biggest protests in years, president says , Reuters, 25 September 2022 A Basij paramilitary member died of injuries he had sustained in Urmia on 22 September, one of several Basijis to have been killed in the demonstrations.