their confrontations with younger women on many occasions have led to verbal abuse and physical violence. screaming. anger against strict islamic rules imposed on women was expressed at mahsa's funeral. chanting.

we saw that in the cemetery women are throwing their scarves and it was as if, for the first time, the entire society was receiving women, showing this act, and it has taken a long time for women to achieve that. they have gone beyond their fear to communicate with the society and i think that was a turning point in the feminist movement in iran. "women, life, freedom," the words chanted by protesters at mahsa's funeral, struck a chord in every corner of iran and before long protest spread like wildfire across the country.

they killed mahsa for a little bit of hair, just a bit of hair was visible, and look what is going on now in iran, we are removing the hijab completely. because mahsa is not a death in iran, she is becoming a symbol of resistance against religious dictatorship. compulsory hijab and strict rules on women were imposed under the islamic revolution a0

years ago and now even high school girls are daring to challenge, removing headscarves and chanting "death to the dictator" in front of schools, something unprecedented and unimaginable just a few weeks ago. but there is no sign that the islamic leadership is thinking of compromise. in his first response to the protests, iran's supreme leader blamed

foreign governments. the security forces were sent out onto the streets in force. but opposition to compulsory hijab in iran is not new. many women have been fighting it since the early days of the islamic

revolution, in 1979. women, both religious and secular participated in protest to remove the shah but for many of them the celebration was short—lived. the leader of the revolution ayatollah khamenei approved islamic rule for women and many women not wearing the hijab were attacked. less than a month after the revolution, the first

protest against compulsory hijab took place in tehran. he is determined to see islamic state at all cost. if they cannot persuade the women and other sectors who oppose extremist beliefs... the ayatollah prevailed. strict islamic rules imposed on women became one of the main pillars of the regime. how could you understand

it is a islamic country? through us, through women, because they make us carry their ideology on our body. basically the hijab is not a choice for us. but iranian women have kept fighting. mansoureh shojaee is an iranian women's rights activist. now she lives in exile, in the hague, the netherlands. in 2006, mansoureh and a group of women in iran started a campaign called i million signatures. the campaign sought to change discriminatory laws against women.

most of the women behind the campaign were arrested or exiled, but a new generation of activists went online. with the development of the internet in iran, communicating with young iranian women became easier. masih alinejad, an iranian activist exiled in the us, used social media to promote her campaigns against compulsory hijab. look at this — colourful hair! this is a hair revolution! my stealthy freedom, my camera is my weapon, and white wednesdays are some of her campaigns against compulsory hijab.

eight years ago, i launched a campaign against hijab compulsory. i picked a colour, white, i picked a day, wednesday, because i wanted people to identify each other in public. people took to the streets practising civil disobedience while wearing a white symbol in public. one of the women, responding to the white wednesdays campaign was yasaman aryani. in an act of defiance against forced hijab, yasaman filmed herself without the hijab on the streets of tehran. this act was a crime in the eyes of the islamic republic.

yasaman was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison. the founder of the campaign wasn't immune, even in the us. masih alinejad has been in the crosshairs of the iranian security forces. in 2021 the fbi foiled a plot to kidnap her in new york. but the iranian government has denied it was involved. if it was not the fbi stopping the kidnapping plot, i would have been in iran now, executed. the fbi actually arrested a man with a loaded gun in front of my house in brooklyn. maybe they are scared of my hair, i don't know, i don't know why they are scared of me. like masih, during the latest protests, many influential iranians figures have used social media to break through state media censorship.

from footballers to actors, from scholars to singers. they have expressed their support. in this clip, songwriter shervin hajipour uses the wording from people's tweets to compose a song about why the islamic republic should no longer exist. iranian security forces arrested shervin immediately. but it was too late. his song had already gone viral. singers in iran and around the world covered his song. # for all the pills we popped just to get some sleep # for all mankind and our country # for all the boys and girls... singing in persian.

it wasn't only the song that crossed borders. the slogan of the protest — woman, life, freedom — also went around the world. in solidarity with the protesters, many international celebrities cut their hair — an ancient act symbolic in iran of mourning and loss. iranian communities in the diaspora have been moved to protest. many have rallied in support in cities around the world. tens of thousands of iranians have travelled from all over europe to be here in berlin. it is the largest protest ever by the iranian diaspora.

people from all walks of life and different ethnicities, united as never before, to support the protest inside iran. people repeatedly shouting this slogan: jin,jiyan, azadi — women, life, freedom. so how did the slogan began? the motto women, life, liberty first was used by the kurdish women resisting the attack of state in turkey towards the end of 1980s, and later it was used by resistance of kurdish women against the isis. the motto itself is very generative, it is supposed to empower people. singing in persian. for the last a0 years, iranian kurdish women have fought against the male—dominated society. and played a significant role in activities opposing the islamic republic.

the motto woman, life, freedom, and especially with the kurdish context from which it rose, it is not thinking about women's freedom as a mere legal issue or matter of mandatory hijab, or those kind of things. it's actually addressing all the patriarchal foundations of our society. this time, the slogan woman, life, freedom, has been picked up especially by iran's tiktok generation, a generation born long after the revolution and educated in the islamic republic's system.

this young woman is typical of the way her generation are speaking out. # take me to church # i'll worship like a dog # at the shrine of your lies # i'll tell you my sins # so you can sharpen your knife this is 16—year—old girl sarina esmailzadeh. at first glance she looks like any western girl. well connected to social media and posting videos to youtube. but she lived in

gohardasht, neartehran. sarina died during the protests. amnesty international says the security forces beat her head with sticks. the authorities say she committed suicide. since the protests began, more than 200 people have been killed. at least 20 of them have been teenagers. another of the victims was nika shahkarami. nika was 16. here, she is singing for herfriends. after the death of mahsa, she joined a protest near her home in tehran. the last message she sent to her friends was, "i am running. "i am being chased by security forces." then she disappeared. ten days later, her mother found her body in a morgue.

herfamily planned to bury her in their hometown of khorramabad in western iran. the funeral fell on her 17th birthday. nika's mother gathered with thousands of people in the cemetery for her burial. but her body never arrived. as news filtered through, mourners in the cemetery were enraged and started chanting, "death to the dictator!" security forces responded with tear gas, batons and shot. nika's aunt and uncle were taken into custody for publicising her death.

the authorities insisted that she nika not killed in the protests, and the cause of her death was falling from a height. to prove this, nika's grieving aunt was filmed explaining how nika fell from a building. it was shown on state tv. state tv has a history of broadcasting forced confessions of political prisoners, gained under pressure and torture. bbc persian obtained video showing a young girl burning her headscarf in the exact location from where nika last called her friend. herfamily confirmed the girl in the video was nika.

despite threats and intimidation, nika's mother, in a video, refuted the authorities�* account of nika's death. the death of young people like nika fuels the anger against the regime. but the islamic republic's leaders have vowed to deal with protesters decisively. mahsa's tragic death is becoming a turning point for iranian women and it is a tipping point for the islamic republic. women are tired of being second—class citizens. they want to have dignity and freedom, and now, this is a revolution, being led by iranian women alongside men,

supporting them. this motto and what it was promising is the right path towards the future of iran, if we are to actually move towards a democratic future. so regardless of whether or not this round of protests are gonna reach an immediate result, at least have opened the right door this time.

the islamic republic of iran has faced a number of serious protests in the past a0 years. this time, it feels different. but there is no clarity yet on the outcome. hello. temperatures have been well above the seasonal norm

for the last couple of days. it was balmy mild to start this weekend. temperatures will be gradually coming down closer to the seasonal norm as we move through the upcoming week and we'll see areas of low pressure hurtling off the atlantic. some pretty deep ones at times which will bring spells of rain and gales followed by sunshine and showers. the change in wind direction from southerly to westerly is why we'll see things turning that little bit cooler. temperatures closer to what we should be expecting for the end of october, early november. but the mild air continues on the south—westerly wind as we head through the west of part two of the weekend. lots of showers around to start this evening. those showers will tend to move their way north overnight. it turns drier for many but further showers pushing into wales, north—west england and south—west england, perhaps into northern ireland as well. temperatures 9—12. again, fairly mild because of the breeze. for monday, we start the new week on a quiet note across eastern areas. a new area of low pressure slowly encroaching into western areas bringing persistent and at times heavy rain to parts of northern ireland and western scotland. so we have a minor yellow warning in force for heavy rain in northern ireland as we could see some localised flooding problems

here by the end of the day as the rain will be incessant. elsewhere, not a bad day at all with some sunshine, bar the odd shower. a bit milder, up to 18 degrees. the mid—teens further north. the heavy rain in the north and west slowly pushing east, joining force with another area of low pressure pushing in over england and wales it turns much better gradually through monday night into the early hours of tuesday morning. they went really picking up, certainly through the channel we are looking at gale force gusts. less so further north but gusty wherever you are. temperatures, double figures for england and wales. perhaps falling into single digits for scotland and northern ireland to start tuesday. a complicated pressure picture for tuesday. one area of low pressure pushing north followed by another rush of heavy rain and strong wind. wednesday, a quiet picture thanks to a bubble of high pressure before the next area of low pressure moves in before thursday. really a roller—coaster ride of weather for the upcoming week. strong wind, heavy rain interspersed with sunshine and showers. what you'll notice is it

turning cooler for all.

national mourning in south korea after 154 people are crushed to death. most were teenagers and young people out for halloween festivities in the capital, seoul — survivors have spoken of their horror at what they saw. more people fell, and i lost my friend. and i, like, turned around and i told the crowd, "you can't come this way. people are dying". we'll report from seoul on how a popular nightlife area turned into a disaster zone. also this evening: the home secretary faces further

questions about the account she gave of sending government documents to people unauthorised to see them. an immigration centre in dover has been firebombed — with the suspect reported to have killed himself. and england reach the rugby world cup semi—final, with captain sarah hunter becoming the most capped england player in women's or men's rugby. good afternoon. a period of national mourning has been declared in south korea after more than 150 people were crushed to death while out for halloween festivities in the capital seoul. most of the victims were teenagers and young adults who had gone to the itaewon district — known for its nightlife and restaurants — and were caught up in the disaster while in a narrow

alleyway that runs down the side of a hotel. 0ur correspondentjean mackenzie sent this report from seoul — you may find parts of it distressing. as the bodies are counted and the victims identified, devastating accounts of seoul's halloween night of horror are emerging. thousands packed onto the streets to party... until this narrow alleyway became so crowded, people were crushed to death. this is where most people died. most people died here. this man was in the alley. he managed to climb onto a platform to safety, where he watched the horror play out. at first, someone pushed from the back. then from here. it was, like, quite a few times, then i realised

something's going to happen. there's no way you can breathe. so everyone lifting up, like... he gasps for air. ..and that's what they're doing, like, taking their last breath and things, so kind of suffocating. 0thers describe how people fell to the floor like dominoes. i didn't sleep till now. i couldn't sleep because i see people dying in front of me. one guy, he know that his friend has died, but he was still giving cpr for 30 minutes. and his friend was trying to stop him, but he was still doing it. this nearby community centre is saturated with grief. families and friends come to register the missing. some get the terrible news that their loved ones are among the dead. waves were coming in from both sides. and more people fell, and i lost my friend. and i turned around and i told the crowd, "you can't come this way.

"people are dying." for others, there's no information. this is almost as hard to hear. this woman's son went to work at a club in itaewon last night. i went home. i didn't see him. he didn't come home. he's the only son, the only one i have. visiting the scene, the president, too, said he was struggling to process his grief. "something that should never have happened, happened," he says, an acknowledgement that things went horribly wrong. this footage from last year shows police controlling the crowds at the same spot. this year, multiple witnesses say this didn't happen. the questions for authorities are,

how was this crowd allowed