Iranian university students pressed ahead with sit-down strikes on Tuesday in support of some of the biggest protests since the 1979 revolution, ignoring harsh warnings by elite security forces and a bloody crackdown. The Islamic Republic has faced sustained anti-government demonstrations since Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police seven weeks ago after she was arrested for wearing clothes deemed “inappropriate”.

The activist HRANA news agency said the sit-down strikes were taking place in several cities including Tehran and Isfahan, as part of a popular revolt calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

One of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical leaders in decades, the protests have been gaining more and more steam, frustrating authorities who have tried to put the blame on Iran’s foreign enemies. “People risk their lives to go to the streets but the hope that they are able to defeat the regime is much bigger than their fears,” said Omid Memarian, senior Iran analyst at Democracy for the Arab World Now.

Brazil protests

Truckers who support Brazil’s outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro escalated their protests on Monday, blocking roads in 20 states in an action that could affect agricultural exports in one of the world’s top food producers and cause wider economic chaos. Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s election to Leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but has yet to concede defeat.

He will not publicly address his defeat until Tuesday, a cabinet minister said on Monday evening, amid doubts over whether the far-right nationalist will accept Lula’s victory. Video footage showed some truckers at roadblocks calling for a military coup to prevent Lula from becoming President, as protests spread from Mato Grosso and Santa Catarina to Parana, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Goias and Bahia.