In Iran, the family of Mahsa Amini filed a complaint against the police

At the same time, the police warned that they would act with "all their force" in the face of the demonstrations, the repression of which has already left dozens dead, prompting condemnations abroad and calls for restraint.

In this context of great tension, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is due to speak Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. GMT live on public television, according to his office.

Fresh protests erupted on Tuesday night over the September 16 death in hospital of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested three days earlier by morality police in Tehran for violating the strict dress code for women in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The authorities deny any involvement in the death of this 22-year-old woman from the Iranian province of Kurdistan. But the family says the opposite and has filed a complaint against the "authors of his arrest", said his lawyer, quoted Wednesday by the Isna news agency.

- "violent blow to the head" -

"We asked the head of the prosecution (...) to carry out a detailed investigation into the way the arrest took place until the transfer of Mahsa to the hospital", explained in particular Me Saleh Nikbakht.

According to Erfan Salih Mortezaee, a cousin of Mahsa Amini, met in Kurdistan of Iraq, she died after "a violent blow to the head" given by the morality police on the day of her arrest.

The police "hit" her before taking her to a van where "the beatings continued", according to the story of the young woman's mother reported by Mr. Mortezaee. She was then taken to hospital, where she died after three days in a coma.

Mahsa Amini's death has sparked protests in which "about 60 people have been killed" since September 16, according to a latest report given Tuesday by the Iranian news agency Fars. Police reported 10 officers dead but it is unclear if they were among the 60 dead.

The NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo, spoke on Monday of "at least 76 dead".

The police will oppose with "all their strength the conspiracies of the counter-revolutionaries" and will act "firmly against those who disturb public order and security anywhere in the country", the police command warned in a statement on Wednesday, according to the Fars news agency.

Human rights defenders have in recent days reported police firing pellets and live ammunition at protesters.

Tehran sees these demonstrations as "riots" led by "separatist groups" or even "foreign plots", pointing the finger at the United States.

On Wednesday, Iran carried out strikes against armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing at least seven people according to Iraqi Kurdish authorities.

According to opposition media based abroad, demonstrations have been taking place every evening since September 16 in several cities. But activists said disrupted internet connections were making it increasingly difficult to transmit the footage.

- Support from Iranian footballers -

Protesters tore up photos of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, threw rocks at security forces, torched police cars and set fire to public buildings, according to videos.

Authorities have reported the arrest of more than 1,200 protesters since September 16. Activists, lawyers and journalists have also been arrested, according to NGOs.

Women are at the forefront of protests in Iran. They are supported by several events abroad.

Iranian international defender Majid Hosseini posted a message on his Instagram account on Wednesday denouncing the crackdown. Other big names in Iranian football had already openly taken a stand in favor of the challenge.

As several European countries have already done, Spain summoned the Iranian ambassador on Wednesday to protest against the repression of the demonstrations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently told Western diplomats that the protests were "not a big deal" for the stability of the Islamic Republic.

"There's not going to be regime change in Iran," he told National Public Radio in New York.

The protests in Iran are the largest since those of November 2019, caused by the rise in gasoline prices, which had been severely repressed – 230 dead according to an official report, more than 300 according to Amnesty International.