As the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi faces discontent over increasingly difficult economic  conditions, the government is ratcheting up agitprop around compulsory hijab, the Islamic dress code, in what many Iranians say is a bid to divert public attention from the nation’s day-to-day hardships. 

The government's efforts to enforce hijab rules are divisive in Iranian society with its outward-looking young population and liberal-minded middle class.

On July 12, as the government hyped “chastity and hijab week,” thousands of Iranian women pushed the envelope of their traditional social roles and recorded themselves walking around the streets of Tehran and other cities with their headscarves removed, risking stern police warnings and arrest. The women’s collective action was a bid to express their unhappiness with the authorities' increasing pressure over hijab compliance. The videos have gone viral on social media accompanied by hashtags defying the ironclad mandate. 

Last month, Shargh Daily reported on what is believed to be the most violent encounter so far between the morality police enforcing the hijab mandate and ordinary citizens. In early June a 22-year-old officer shot a former boxing champion at least four times after he intervened to prevent his wife from being harassed over her dressing style while the couple were on a stroll at Pardisan Park in Tehran.