Tehran: After three weeks of protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody, the death toll has risen to 185. This includes 19 children.

Tensions flared again in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province after rights monitors said two protesters were shot dead and several others wounded. A member of the Basij paramilitary group was killed.

Locals said the city is under heavy security, with regular patrols and security personnel stationed on major streets.

There are also reports that 20 members of security forces such as the IRGC and Basij have been killed in protests over the past three weeks.

It is reported that the country's security forces have arrested several schoolchildren from school premises and Iranian authorities have closed all schools and educational institutions in Kurdistan.

Police use repressive tactics, including beatings, arrests, shootings, and internet disruption. Still, the protests are spreading more strongly across the country.

Sharo, a 35-year-old university graduate, said anger at the authorities was intensifying despite a bloody crackdown that has left dozens dead and hundreds detained.
Sharo said that even if two or three people walk together on the street, they will chase them away.

Many fled after seeing security forces firing pellet guns and tear gas at the crowd during the protest. Security personnel on motorcycles also tried to disperse the crowd and fired at them.

But the Iranian authorities deny all the allegations.

Two protesters were killed in a shootout in Sanandaj on Saturday, according to the France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

Injured people were often reluctant to use ambulances or go to hospitals. They fear that they will be arrested. But the protesters are continuing to act defensively, says Sharrow.

They are protesting in the streets chanting 'Death to Dictator'. Tara Sepehri Fars, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the protests took place in a predominantly Kurdish region but were not defined along ethnic or regional lines.

Security forces have been cracking down on protests across the country against the Iranian regime. During the protests, a woman in east Mashhad was shot dead by the police who arrived with weapons.

Mahsa Amini was brutally beaten by the religious police in Iran for allegedly not wearing a headscarf, and Mahsa surrendered to death on September 16.

The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, expressed condolences over the death of Mahsa Amini, accused the protesters of receiving support from outside the country and said the protesters would be dealt with forcefully.