Fresh protests erupted across Iran over the death of 16-year-old Asra Panahi after several students were beaten in a raid at a high school in Ardebil, The Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing Rador.

Another student was reportedly killed by Iranian security forces after she was beaten in class for refusing to sing an ode to the regime during a raid on her school last week, an incident that sparked fresh protests during weekend protests across Iran

According to the Coordinating Council of Professional Associations of Iranian Teachers, 16-year-old Asra Panahi was killed following a security raid on October 13 at Shahed High School for Girls in Ardebil, where a group of students were asked to sing an ode to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Because they refused, the security forces beat the students, some of whom went to the hospital, and some to prison. Panahi died on Friday in hospital from injuries sustained at school.

Iranian authorities have denied that their security forces were responsible, and after her death shocked the country, a man identified as her uncle appeared on state television to say she died of a congenital heart condition.

The female students have become a powerful force after several viral videos of them waving headscarves in the air, tearing down pictures of Iran’s top leaders and chanting slogans against the regime and in memory of the dead 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. last month she was detained by the morality police for improperly wearing a hijab.

Last week, Iran responded with raids on schools across the country, with police reportedly forcing their way into classrooms, brutally arresting female students and putting them in cars, and using tear gas in schools.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Iran’s teachers’ union condemned the “cruel and inhumane” raids and called for the resignation of Education Minister Youssef Nouri.

News of Panahi’s death further mobilized the country’s schoolgirls, who organized and joined protests over the weekend.

Among them is 16-year-old Naznina*, who is kept at home by her parents for fear of arrest for protesting at school. “I was no longer allowed to go to school because my parents were afraid for my life. But what did it change? The regime continues to kill and arrest schoolgirls,” said Naznin.

“What would I do if I just sat at home angry? My colleagues and I from all over Iran have decided to take to the streets this week in protest. And I will do it, even if now I have to hide it from my parents.”

19-year-old Nergis* also joined the protests and was shot in the back and legs with rubber bullets. She says that despite the danger, Panahi’s death motivated her and her friends to continue protesting.

She says what happened to Panahi, like the killing by security forces of two other students, 17-year-old Nika Shahkarami and 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, united all young people in Iran to fight for a common cause.

“I don’t have a single relative in Ardebil, but these brutal repressions of our sisters, who are only 16 years old, woke up the whole country,” she said. “I never knew that we are so united – in all the regions inhabited by Baloch people, as well as in the Kurdish regions. The whole world has heard of Nika, Sarina and Asra, but there are so many nameless children we didn’t know anything about.”

“It’s not just Asra’s death,” she said. “The Islamic Republic has been killing our people for 40 years, but our voices have not been heard. Let the whole world know that this is no longer a protest – we are calling for a revolution. Now that you all listen to our voices, we will not stop.”

According to the latest report by the Iranian Human Rights Association, as of October 17, 215 people, including 27 children, have been killed in protests across the country.

[*nume fictive – n.r.]