Iranian authorities on Sunday announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf. Following the announcement, morality police returned to the streets 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests, The Associated Press reported.
The morality police had largely pulled back following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September.
Amini’s death was followed by mass anti-government protests. The government crackdown on the demonstrations resulted in hundreds of people being killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested.
The protests largely died down earlier this year following the crackdown. Despite risking arrest for defying the obligatory dress code, women have still been widely seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops and streets around the country.
The police have urged citizens to confront unveiled women. Such directives in past decades have emboldened hardliners to attack women. Earlier this year, a viral video showed a man throwing yogurt at two unveiled women in a shop. The man was later arrested, but so were the two women.
Iranian authorities later announced that cameras would be installed in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalize unveiled women.
On Sunday, Gen. Saeed Montazerolmahdi, a police spokesman, said the morality police would resume notifying and then detaining women not wearing hijab in public. In Tehran, the men and women of the morality police could be seen patrolling the streets in marked vans, according to AP.