Protest strikes in Iran reported as solidarity rallies held around world

Shopkeepers and factory workers reportedly went on strike in Iran on Saturday as women-led nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini entered a sixth week and solidarity rallies were held around the globe.

Young women have led the charge, removing their headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces, despite a crackdown that human rights groups say has killed at least 122 people.

Some female students among them did not wear the mandatory headscarf.

In north-western Iran, dozens of students clapped and chanted slogans during a protest at the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, verified footage showed.

Iran accused its arch-enemy the US of seeking to use the protests to gain concessions in talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The Berlin rally, which police said drew more than 80,000 people, was one of a number of demonstrations around the world, including in Australia and Japan.

Organisers said Iranians had travelled from the US, Canada and all over the EU.

Anti-government activists said the Berlin march was the largest-ever demonstration against the Islamic Republic by Iranians abroad.

Activists have also accused the authorities of a campaign of mass arrests and travel bans to quell the protests, with athletes, celebrities and journalists caught up in the dragnet.

Overnight an Iranian climber, who was reportedly placed under house arrest for competing abroad last weekend without a headscarf, thanked her supporters on Instagram.

Elnaz Rekabi, 33, wore only a headband in an event at the Asian Championships in Seoul, in what many saw as gesture of solidarity with the Amini protests.

The BBC and London-based Iran International television said on Friday that Rekabi had been placed under house arrest. Her phone had reportedly been seized from her before she flew home.

On Friday, the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran called on the International Federation of Sport Climbing to do more to protect Rekabi and all Iranian athletes.

Reuters contributed to this report