Iran's protest movement has passed its 100th day on Sunday and is showing little signs of fizzling out. A new generation of bold youths disillusioned by the ruling theocracy and thirsty for a normal life is in the middle of a struggle that seems undeterred by crackdown, imprisonment and executions.

It all began on Sept. 16, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody for improperly wearing her hijab. Public fury at the suffocating dress code quickly tapped into long-unaddressed demands, crises that have been swept under the rug: human rights, civil freedoms, corruption and unemployment.

The protests have marked the longest period of unrest in the Islamic Republic since its inception in 1979. The scale and intensity of the demonstrations and the protesters' determination to topple the ruling regime caught it off guard.

The Iranian establishment has tried to crush the unrest, killed over 500 protesters, according the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Nearly 70 of the dead were under the age of 18. Over 18,500 people have been arrested and two have been executed. Another 11 are on death row and the same fate looms for 47 others accused of crimes punishable by death.