A mural featuring a troubled Marge Simpson has appeared outside the Iranian consulate in Milan, Italy, holding scissors in her left hand and her iconic blue hair in her right in a show of solidarity with Iranian women protesting the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died in police custody after failing to cover her hair in accordance with the Islamic Republic’s modest dress guidelines.
The Simpsons TV character was painted by street artist aleXsandro Palomb and displayed in front of the consulate on Wednesday.
Palomb created the mural “to celebrate the courage of Iranian women and to pay tribute to Mahsa Amini beaten to death by the morality police for failing to properly wear the hijab that let out a lock of hair,” Metro UK reported.
“If Marge Simpson is banned from entering Iran, nothing prevents her from expressing her dissent to the regime in front of the Iranian consulate. Here we live in democracy, that universal value of the right to freedom for which the brave Iranian people fight at the cost of their lives,” he added.
Amini’s death on September 16 has sparked weekslong protests across Iran in which women have removed their hijabs and symbolically cut their hair.
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Chanting “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator,” the demonstrations have prompted internet blackouts and violent crackdowns by authorities in an effort to quell dissent.
Iranian schoolgirls take off head coverings and tear pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, to chants of "woman, life, freedom" and "death to the dictator" on day 19 of protests in Iran over the death of #MahsaAmini.#مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/36vaBoFq94
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 4, 2022
As of Tuesday, the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights has put the death toll at 92.
Western countries have also expressed solidarity with protestors.
On Wednesday, a Swedish politician cut her hair during a speech to the European Parliament in a show of solidarity with Iranian protesters.
Also Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told parliament that the country was seeking to impose an EU-wide freeze on Iranian assets and travel in the region.
Giorgia Meloni, slated to be Italy’s first female prime minister, praised protesters late last month on Twitter. An Italian national was reported to have been taken into Iranian custody amid protests on Wednesday.
American officials have also praised the protesters and condemned Iran for its crackdown on dissent, amid efforts to revamp the stalled Iran nuclear deal.
