Violence saying democracy itself will be on the ballot paper in next weeks midterm elections. Mr biden accused the former President Donald Trump and his supporters of undermining democracy and fuelling anger and violence. It has just it hasjust gone it has just gone to 30 am here on bbc news. Now on bbc news, iran women rising. Chanting the death of a young kurdish woman in iran has sparked unprecedented protest across the country. The Security Forces have cracked down but, weeks on, there is no sign of the protesters backing down. Some of the biggest demonstration so far took place a0 days after mahsa amini died. The bbc cant operate freely in iran so we rely on people sending us videos from inside the country. This time, irans Tiktok Generation are at the forefront of this challenge to the islamic regime. Rights in iran. And the world 7 in early september, mahsa amini, a 22 year old woman, and her brother, travelled from a kurdish city in western iran to visit the capital city, tehran, for the first time. But theirjourney takes an ominous turn. As soon as they get out of the metro station, mahsa amini faces the Morality Police, a force tasked with enforcing the strict islamic dress code on women in public. Mahsas clothes are deemed revealing. Mahsa is detained and taken to a Police Station in tehran. An hour later, mahsa complains about something to a female police officer. This cctv footage shows the moment she collapses in the Police Station. By the time she was transferred to a hospital, she is brain dead and falls into a coma. Three days later, mahsa was pronounced dead. The news of her death outrages many across the country. The Security Forces disperse a crowd gathered in front of the hospital. The police chief of tehran says that mahsa fell into a coma because of a heart condition. The Morality Police usually wear body cameras, but they say they did not on that day. The police van had cctv cameras, but no recordings have been made available. Mahsas father says eyewitnesses have told him the Morality Police beat mahsa up in the van. Despite threats and intimidation by the Security Forces, mahsas father refuses to remain silent and an interview with bbc persia he says the government account is totally false. The Islamic Republic has strict rules on what women wear in public. The Morality Police have been enforcing those rules forfour decades. Their confrontations with young women on many occasions have led to verbal abuse and physical violence. Screaming anger against the strict islamic rules imposed on women was expressed at mahsas funeral. We saw that in the cemetery women are throwing their scarves and it was as if, for the first time, the entire society was receiving women showing this act of Civil Disobedience. It has taken a long time for women to achieve that. They have gone beyond their fear to communicate with the society and i think that was a Turning Point in the Feminist Movement in iran. Women, life, freedom, the words chanted by protesters before long, protest had spread like wildfire across the country. They killed Mahsa Forjust a bit of hair, Just A Little Bit of her hair was visible, and look what is going on now in iran, women are removing the hijab completely. Because mahsa is not dead for iranian women, dead for iranian women, she is becoming a symbol of resistance against the dictatorship. Compulsory hijab and strict rules on women were imposed under the Islamic Revolution a0 years ago. A few weeks ago. But there is no sign that the islamic leadership is thinking of compromise. In his First Response to the protests, irans Supreme Leader blamed foreign governments. The Security Forces were sent out onto the streets in force. But opposition to Compulsory Hijab in iran is not new. Many women have been fighting it since the early days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Women, both religious and secular, participated in the revolution to remove the shah, but for many of them the celebration was short lived. The leader of the revolution approved islamic rule for women and many women not wearing the hijab were attacked. Less than a month after the revolution, the first protest against Compulsory Hijab took place in tehran. Ayatollah khameini is determined to see Islamic State at all cost. If they cannot persuade the women in other sectors who oppose extremist beliefs. Ayatollah khamenei prevailed. Strict islamic rules imposed on women became one of the main pillars of the regime. How could you understand this is an islamic country . Through us, through women, because they make us wear their ideology on our body. Basically the hijab is not a choice for us. But iranian women have kept fighting. Mansoureh shojaee is an iranian womens rights activist. Now she lives in exile, in the hague, the netherlands. In 2006, mansoureh and a group of Women In Iran started a campaign called one million signatures. The campaign sought to change discriminatory laws against women. Most of the women behind the campaign were arrested or exiled, but a new generation of activists went online. With the development of the internet in iran, communicating with young iranian women became easier. Masih alinejad, an iranian activist exiled in the us, used social media to promote her campaigns against Compulsory Hijab. Look at this colourful hair this is a Hair Revolution my stealthy freedom, my camera is my weapon, and white wednesdays are some of her campaigns against Compulsory Hijab. Eight years ago, i launched a campaign against hijab compulsory. I picked a colour, white, i picked a day, wednesday, because i wanted people to identify each who do not believe in hijab to identify each other in public. People took to the streets practising Civil Disobedience while wearing or waving a white symbol in public. One of the women responding to the White Wednesdays Campaign was yasaman aryani. In an act of defiance against forced hijab, yasaman filmed herself without the hijab on the streets of tehran. This act was a crime in the eyes of the Islamic Republic. Yasaman was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison. The founder of the campaign wasnt immune, even in the us. Masih alinejad has been in the crosshairs of the iranian Security Forces. In 2021, the fbi foiled a plot to kidnap her in new york. But the iranian government has denied it was involved. If it was not the fbi stopping the kidnapping plot, i would have been in iran now executed. The fbi actually arrested a man with a loaded gun in front of my house in brooklyn. Maybe they are scared of my hair, i dont know, i dont know why they are scared of me. Like masih, during the latest protests, many influential iranians figures have used social media to break through state Media Censorship. Through state Media Censorship from footballers to actors, from scholars to singers. They have expressed their support. In this clip, songwriter Shervin Hajipour uses the wording from peoples tweets to compose a song about why the Islamic Republic should no longer exist. Iranian Security Forces arrested shervin immediately. But it was too late. His song had already gone viral. Singers in iran and Around The World covered his song. For all the pills we pop just to get some sleep for all mankind and our country for all the boys and girls. Singing in persian it wasnt only the song that crossed borders. The slogan of the protest women, life, freedom also went Around The World. In solidarity with the protesters, Many International celebrities cut their Hair An Ancient Act Symbolic In Iran of mourning and loss. Iranian communities in the diaspora have been moved to protest. Many have rallied in support in cities Around The World. Tens of thousands of iranians have travelled from all over europe to be here in berlin. It is the largest protest ever by the iranian diaspora. People from all Walks Of Life and different ethnicities, united as never before to support the protest inside iran. People repeatedly shouting this slogan jin, jiyan, azadi women, life, freedom. So how did the slogan begin . The motto women, life, Liberty First was used by the kurdish women resisting the attack of state in turkey towards the end of 1980s, and later it was used by resistance of kurdish women against the isis. The motto itself is very generative, it is supposed to empower people. Singing in persian for the last a0 years, iranian kurdish women have fought against the male dominated society and played a significant role in activities opposing the Islamic Republic. The motto woman, life, freedom, and especially with the kurdish the motto women, life, freedom, and especially with the kurdish context from which it rose, it is not thinking about womens freedom as a mere legal issue or matter of mandatory hijab, all those kind of things, it is actually addressing all the patriarchal foundations of our society. This time, the slogan women, life, freedom has been picked up especially by irans Tiktok Generation, a generation born long after the revolution and educated in the Islamic Republics system. This young woman is typical of the way her generation are speaking out. Take me to church ill worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies ill tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife. This is 16 Year Old Girl sarina esmailzadeh. At first glance she looks like any western girl. Well connected to social media and posting videos to youtube. But she lived in gohardasht, neartehran. Sarina died during the protests. Amnesty International Says the Security Forces beat her head with sticks. The Authorities Say she committed suicide. Since the protests began, more than 200 people have been killed. At least 20 of them have been teenagers. Another of the victims was nika shahkarami. Singing nika was 16. Here, she is singing for herfriends. After the death of mahsa, Shejoined A Protest the last message she sent to herfriends was, im running. I am being chased by Security Forces. Then she disappeared. Ten days later, her mother found her body in a morgue. Herfamily planned to bury her in their hometown of khorramabad in western iran. The funeral fell on her 17th birthday. Nikas mother gathered with thousands of people in the cemetery for her burial. But her body never arrived. As news filtered through, mourners in the cemetery were enraged and started chanting, death to the dictator Security Forces responded with tear gas, batons and shots. Nikas aunt and uncle were taken into custody for publicising her death. The authorities insisted that nika was not killed in the protest, and the cause of her death was falling from a height. To prove this, nikas Grieving Aunt was filmed explaining how nika fell from a building. It was shown on state tv. State tv has a history of broadcasting forced confessions of political prisoners, gained under prisoners gained under pressure and torture. Bbc persian obtained video showing a young girl burning her headscarf in the exact location from where nika last called herfriend. Her family confirmed the girl in the video was nika. Despite threats and intimidation, nikas mother, in a video, refuted the authorities� account of nikas death. The death of young people like nika fuelled anger against the regime. But the Islamic Republics leaders have vowed to deal with protesters decisively. Mahsas tragic death is becoming a Turning Point for iranian women and it is a Tipping Point for the Islamic Republic. Women are tired of being second class citizens. They want to have dignity and freedom, and now, this is a Revolution Being Led by iranian women, alongside men supporting them. This motto and what it was promising is the right path towards the future of iran, if we are to actually to move towards a democratic future. So regardless of whether or not these round of protests are gonna reach any immediate result, at least have opened the right door this time. The Islamic Republic of iran has faced a number of serious protests in the past a0 years. This time, it feels different. But there is no clarity yet on the outcome. Hello. There was a stormy end to wednesday low pressure sweeping rain and gales across the uk. As we move into thursday, though, well see some improvements, with some sunshine around. One or two showers, but it will stay quite wet in the south east as the overnight rain band lingers. And you can see here on the pressure chart, eventually itll wriggle away as we move into thursday afternoon, but this new area of low pressure will bring increasing showers to the South West Quadrant of the country, along with strengthening winds. You notice the blue hue there on the temperature map. It will feel cooler across the northern half of the country throughout the day today. So a wet, damp morning across the south east. Eventually that should clear away into the afternoon. Elsewhere, plenty of sunshine around. One or two showers. Most of the showers affecting wales and the south west of england, with increasing winds here, particularly through the channel. But it will be a blustery day across the southern half of the country. Winds slightly lighter further north that is away from the far north of scotland, and temperatures ten, 11 degrees in the north, at around 12 or 13 in the south, so it will feel cooler for all. It looks like that area of low pressure will bring showers or longer spells of rain through thursday night for wales, south west england, perhaps the south coast as well, and certainly through the channel for the channel islands, winds will be strong for a while. But a ridge of High Pressure starts to build in early on friday, so winds veering to a more northerly direction and it will be quite cold. Temperatures down to freezing across some Northern Areas and a bit of mist and fog too. So here it is ridge of High Pressure building in across the country for friday before more low pressure arrives for the weekend. Any early showers will clear away from the far south early through friday, and then its bright, plenty of sunshine around. A chilly start, mind you. Temperatures rising a little bit through the day. A few showers still across northern scotland, but most places dry. 11 to 13 or 1a degrees across the south. So the weekend is looking unsettled. Weve got more low pressure working its way in off the atlantic. Thats going to bring rain and gales at times. It looks like one frontal system will cross the country on saturday, though. It will tend to weaken as it pushes towards the eastern side of the country, then its blustery showers, strong winds into sunday and this front bringing some wet weather once again to the south east corner, so quite a mixed bag through the weekend. Like i mentioned, its wet in the west, showers further east, and then a little bit drier in the north on sunday. Very wet across the south east. Welcome to bbc news im mark lobel. Our top stories. The japanese government issues a rare Emergency Alert after north korea launches Ballistic Missiles towards its territory. 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