France 24 

Protests flared in Iran for an eighth straight night Friday over the death of a young woman arrested by morality police, verified social media posts showed, hours after counter-demonstrations mobilised by authorities.

At least 50 people have been killed by security forces in the anti-government protests, Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based organisation, said -- more than three times the official death toll of 17, which includes five security personnel.

The street violence, which IHR says has spread to 80 towns and cities, was triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd who had spent three days in a coma after being detained by the morality police in Tehran.

Verified footage spread on social media showed large crowds of protesters gathering in several neighbourhoods of the capital Tehran after dark, just hours after the government-backed rallies dispersed.

Some were confronted by armed anti-riot police or militia.

Iran has imposed tough restrictions on the use of the internet in a bid to hamper protesters gathering and stop the flow of images of the backlash from reaching the outside world.

'Afraid of own people'

The United States announced Friday it was easing export restrictions on Iran to expand internet services, days after SpaceX owner Elon Musk said he would seek an exemption from sanctions to offer his company's Starlink satellite service in the Islamic republic.

The new measures will "help counter the Iranian government's efforts to surveil and censor its citizens," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"It is clear that the Iranian government is afraid of its own people," he added.

On Friday, thousands took to the streets in support of the hijab at government-backed counter rallies in Tehran and other cities.

"The great demonstration of the Iranian people condemning the conspirators and the sacrileges against religion took place today," Iran's Mehr news agency said.

State television broadcast footage of pro-hijab demonstrators in central Tehran, many of them men but also women dressed in black chadors.