Today is the beginning of the anti-hejab 5 by 5 movement in Iran.

As of today, every Thursday (Thursday is panjshnabeh in Persian and has a 5 in its name) at 5pm women will unveil for 5 seconds in the Iranian cities of Tehran, Mashad and Shiraz.

Since veiling is compulsory in Iran, the short time frame is to allow for mass action without large numbers of arrests. The organisers have called on women in other cities to join in.

As one of the organisers has said: ‘We have a lot of problems in the society but the veil symbolises all of them…’

Of course, the practice of unveiling or ‘improper’ veiling is a long-time form of resistance in Iran. There have been unveilings particularly at 8 March International Women’s Day events. Women do it in all the time. See two such photos below:

Street sign below reads: Wearing the Islamic Veil is Compulsory

Street sign below reads: The implementation of the plan to raise morality is a national and religious demand

Via Keyvan Javid of Alayhe Tabeez publication