New Delhi: Amid a wave of suspected poison attacks affecting schoolgirls in several schools in Iran, parents sat on a protest in various cities of the country including the capital Tehran on Saturday, according to Iranian news agencies and videos shared on social media. The illness which is so-far unexplained has affected hundreds of schoolgirls in dozens of schools in recent months. According to Iranian officials, the girls may have been poisoned and have blamed the enemies of Tehran, as reported by the news agency Reuters.
The health minister of Iran has said the girls have suffered "mild poison" attacks. Some politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups opposed to girls' education. Sickness affected over 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran's 31 provinces on Saturday, Reuters reported.
In the videos shared on social media, parents can be seen gathered at schools to take their children home and some students are being taken to hospitals by ambulance or buses. According to a video verified by Reuters, a gathering of parents outside an Education Ministry building in western Tehran on Saturday to protest over the illnesses turned into an anti-government demonstration.
"Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh," protesters chanted, likening the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to the Islamic State group. Similar protests were held in two other areas in Tehran and other cities including Isfahan and Rasht, according to unverified videos, Reuters reported.
The protests due to the outbreak of schoolgirl sickness come at a critical time for Iran's clerical rulers, who have faced months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes.
The United Nations human rights office in Geneva called on Friday for a transparent investigation into the suspected attacks and countries including Germany and the United States have voiced concern. Iran rejected what it views as foreign meddling and "hasty reactions" and said on Friday it was investigating the causes of the incidents, as reported by Reuters.
"It is one of the immediate priorities of Iran's government to pursue this issue as quickly as possible and provide documented information to resolve the families' concerns and to hold accountable the perpetrators and the causes," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told state media.
The schoolgirls, who have been affected by poison attacks, were active in the anti-government protests that started in September. They have removed their mandatory headscarves in classrooms, torn up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and called for his death.