Women in Syria protest in solidarity with women of Iran

STORY: Mahsa Amini, 22, died earlier this month after being arrested in Tehran by police enforcing the Islamic Republic's strict restrictions on women's dress. Her death has touched off Iran's biggest unrest since 2019.

Iranian police have denied harming her, saying she fell ill as she waited with other detained women. Iran's foreign ministry on Monday accused the United States of using the protests to try to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

"We support the protests and uprisings in Iran," said Arwa al-Saleh, a member of the Kongra Star women's rights organisation that called for the protest. "We gather to burn Hijabs and some comrades cut their hair to protest injustice and oppression against women," she said.

Women have played a prominent role in the demonstrations in Iran, waving and burning their veils, with some publicly cutting their hair in a direct challenge to clerical leaders. Iran's Kurdistan province is one of the region's swept by unrest.

The Kurdish ethnic minority live mostly in a region straddling the borders of Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

Dozens of people protested over Amini's death on Sunday in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Suli. Last week, one of Iraq's main Kurdish leaders - Masoud Barzani - called her family to pay condolences.