Amid Iran’s a hash crackdown on ‘bad-hijab women’ and a growing resistance, a woman in northern Iran removed her headscarf in public but people did not allow police to arrest her. 

The middle-aged woman waved her headscarf as she was walking in a main square of the city of Tonekabon – formerly known as Shahsavar -- in Mazandaran province, shouting “freedom” and police forces sought to detain her by force as she was screaming “do not touch me!” 

In a rare scene in Iran where people are normally afraid of law enforcement forces, citizens of the city gathered around the police car, immobilized it, and released the woman. 

Authorities this year named the 12th of July as Hijab and Chastity Day and are planning state-sponsored rallies at stadiums and other places to promote the Islamic notion of the hijab (cover) for women. On the same day, women activists have their own plans to protest by taking off their hijab. 

The Islamic Republic has launched an extensive campaign this year against women they call ‘bad-hijab’. In addition to arrests by the ‘morality police’ on the streets, some officials have ordered extra measures, including to government offices, banks, and public transportation to withhold service to ‘bad-hijab’ women. 

The so-called morality police have also started patrolling medical and academic centers in some cities to enforce compliance with the Islamic dress code.

President Ebrahim Raisi on July 6 called lack of compliance with hijab rules “an organized promotion of [moral] corruption in Islamic society.”