Watch: Iranians are knocking off and stealing cleric’s turbans in protest against veil

The videos of ‘turban throwing’ are going viral on social media. These clips, in which the identity of the turban thrower is concealed, show men and women sneaking upon the religious clerics and then knocking off their turbans. While some protesters would run after doing this, some would feign ignorance and pretend that they did not do it.

On Monday, Iranian-American analyst Holly Dagres posted a compilation of these videos on her Twitter account. In her tweets, she also shared a spoof account of the “Iran Turban Throw Federation” that has jokingly announced a ‘turban grab and throw contest’.

As the protests in Iran continue, there’s a trend of clerical “turban throwing” #عمامه_پرانی‌

Iranians are uploading videos of themselves knocking off or stealing a cleric’s turban and (usually) running away.

(Song is Toomaj Salehi’s “Rathole”)#MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/hCN3fnZGKH

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) November 7, 2022

This meme says:

“Each turban has 6-11 meters of fabric. If you bring them with you, from each turban comes at least 20 Molotov cocktails.” #MahsaAmini #عمامه_پرانی‌ pic.twitter.com/ISDqDbcmQ5

There’s now a Twitter spoof account for the “Iran (Turban) Throw Federation” @iatf_official

They have announced a contest with categories: Solo Dash… Formula 1 (Turban) Grab & Throw 😆 #عمامه_پرانی #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/FQ0lwJzZvZ

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) November 7, 2022

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) November 7, 2022

The video of the Iranian woman knocking a turban off has a lot of fan art #MahsaAmini #عمامه_پرانی‌ pic.twitter.com/GigadQRrvH

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) November 7, 2022

I can’t believe that there are ppl that find this practice to be offensive given what is being done to women who don’t wear the “religiously proper attire” in the name of religion … it just blows my mind!!! #religionisadisease

— Blanka (@blankita_mtl) November 7, 2022

Bunch of hypocrites r commenting here saying “this is wrong” and “disrespectful”. Where r u when they are killing ppl and children? U r all keep it quiet and now talk about respect?! Our children r dying by the regime in the street, u r worried about piece of clothing! pic.twitter.com/bcSbY62eQp

— Roxy (@Roxy_FMAS) November 7, 2022

Disgusting. Way to lose supporters for your “movement”.

— Foody09 (@Foody091) November 7, 2022

pic.twitter.com/4GeNHdKdun

— Ornwen (@ornwen) November 7, 2022

Good to see men are getting involved.

— Ted Tratt. 🐯🐯🐯 (@TedTratt) November 7, 2022

While many people applauded the protests for their disruptive tactics in face of strong pushback from the regime, others found the act of violating a religious figure’s attire inappropriate.

Criticising the protesters, a Twitter user wrote, “Disgusting. Way to lose supporters for your “movement”.” In their defence, another person remarked, “Years and years of threatening women in the streets, yelling at them for what their wearing, and taking their basic rights… well, Karma is a b*tch! #MahsaAmini #IranRevolution”.