Authorities in Iran continue to crack down on the widespread protests that arose in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death while she was in the custody of the morals police. We finally have an in-depth review of how the government has reacted to the protests, in the form of a well researched article on the evidence that the government’s response has been harsh and terrible. (WashPost gift link should get you past the paywall for a while).

Tactics of repression: How Iran is trying to stop Mahsa Amini protests

A visual forensics analysis shows authorities using indiscriminate force, making violent arrests and throttling internet service to crush demonstrations.

To understand the extent of the government’s crackdown against protesters, The Washington Post analyzed hundreds of videos and photographs of protests, spoke to human rights activists, interviewed protesters and reviewed data collected by internet monitoring groups. The Post geolocated videos of protests in at least 22 cities — from the Kurdistan region, where the protests began, to Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Persian Gulf, to Rasht on the Caspian coast.

The investigation focused on three key tactics used by the government to crush the protests — the apparent use of live ammunition by security forces, targeted arrests and the throttling of internet service….

Security forces have been firing indiscriminately at demonstrators since the start of the protests, 1500 Tasvir, an anti-government monitoring group, told The Post. Videos recorded Sept. 17, according to 1500 Tasvir, in the Kurdish city of Saqqez — Amini’s hometown — appear to corroborate the claim. They show protesters marching through the center of the city on the same day as Amini’s funeral. They are quickly dispersed by officers on motorcycles firing in the direction of the crowd….

Despite the violence by security forces — and the daily blackouts — protesters are still in the streets. To some, the crackdown has only made them more determined. The protester in Tehran recalled a scene from a recent protest, where he and his compatriots dragged trash cans into the street and set them on fire. As security forces approached on motorcycles, they began to chant:

“We didn’t have our people killed in order to compromise.”

The article is deep and full of data. If you can stomach it, read the whole thing.