STRASBOURG, France - Tensions continue to rise between authorities and Kurds in western Iran over Newroz celebrations, with political observers saying the actions on both sides are politically-motivated.

“There is a big gap between the people and the authorities, especially in Kurdistan. People are very unhappy and the authorities are afraid of losing their power completely,” said journalist Masoud Kurdpour.

Farhad Aminpour, a journalist and political observer, believes the Newroz celebrations are partly political and partly an expressive of protest, especially after the Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement.

Friday: A day of tensions

On Friday, Iranian security forces tried to prevent Newroz celebrations in the cities of Kermanshah, Saqqez, Saheb, and Oshnavieh.

Military forces set up temporary checkpoints on the road from Oshnavieh to Singan village, where an event was set to be held, monitoring people's movement with military vehicles and semi-heavy weapons.

Clashes broke out between the security forces and the civilians who refused to turn back and insisted on holding the celebrations.

Eventually, the persistent celebrants headed to Tachin Awe neighborhood, farther away from Singan village, where many people gathered to celebrate Newroz, dance, and light Newroz bonfires, before forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the people and dispersed them by force and threats.

Similar scenes were witnessed on Friday in Kermanshah and in Saqqez, where people went to Mount Jaql and celebrated Newroz despite the surveillance and obstruction of the IRGC.

The celebrants on Mount Jaql dressed in traditional Kurdish clothing, wearing a jamana scarf which is symbol of the Peshmerga of western Iran’s Kurdish region, and chanting political slogans in support of the Kurdish parties.

Tens of thousands also attended an event in the town of Saheb, near Saqqez. According to one of the event managers, IRGC forces tried to disrupt the party, so it ended an hour earlier than scheduled.

The New Region has learnt that security agencies have summoned cultural activists, event organizers, music groups, and even singers in different cities and parts of western Iran, and warned them not to hold any celebrations for Newroz.

‘Newroz has become a political occasion’

“Every event that takes place becomes a reason to show Kurdishness and becomes a political event, especially by wearing Kurdish clothes and jamana to express their position,” Kurdpour, a journalist from Bokan, told The New Region on Friday.

Aminpour said that one of the factors for the increased pressure is the promotion of Kurdish wear by the Kurdish parties, which he said has caused concerns for the Iranian authorities regarding their increased influenced.

“This year the government has made much more efforts to prevent the celebrations. Last year the pressure was less because the Zhina protests were still hot, so they did not dare to prevent them as much,” Aminpour told The New Region from Saqqez, referring to Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, whose death in custody sparked major nationwide protests in 2022.

“Since the Zhina revolution, the authorities have been very sensitive to people's gatherings of all kinds, and people are using Newroz to gather more,” Kurdpour said.

The Zhina Amini protests, later dubbed the Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement, became the largest protest movement in Iran in more than four decades.

 Zhina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from Saqqez, Sanandaj province, died under suspicious circumstances in a Tehran detention center after being arrested for wearing a lax hijab.

Newroz is celebrated all over Iran, but Aminpour says Newroz in the Kurdish areas is different from other parts of Iran because it has more identity symbols and the authorities see this as political behavior.