A year ago, on 16 September 2022, in Tehran, the Iranian police murdered Jîna Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for a “badly worn” veil. The murder of this young Kurdish woman sparked a huge popular uprising throughout the country. Thousands took to the streets chanting “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom).

The Offensive, an association of associations, will organize a march today in the French city of Lille to mark the anniversary of the killing of Jîna Mahsa Amini. The march will start at 5 pm in Place Republique.

In a statement, the Offensive said: “The demonstrators in Iran suffered merciless repression: many people died in the streets and in the prisons of those in power, many others were imprisoned or sentenced to the death penalty.

Jîna's death was the spark, she is the symbol of the oppression endured by the people of Iran and elsewhere, particularly women, Kurds and other ethnic minorities.

“The various mechanisms of oppression weighing on the person of Jîna caused her death,” her tombstone writes.”

The statement continued: “For decades, the Iranian Islamist state has fought ethnic minorities through political repression, violence and colonization. It fights women by exercising control over their lives and their bodies, any attempt at resistance putting these women at risk of the worst abuse or even death, like Jîna. Let us also not forget the thousands of schoolgirls and high school students poisoned by gas in their schools in recent months.

Everywhere, we must continue the struggle for the autonomy of peoples, for the women's revolution and for a truly egalitarian and democratic society.”

The Offensive called for participation in events commemorating the murder of Jîna and the revolution that followed it.