12 killed in Iran’s night of violence
President Rouhani plays down unrest, says people would respond
Twelve people were killed overnight in the worst violence yet seen in Iran’s protests, local media reported on Monday, while President Hassan Rouhani said the Iranian people would respond to “rioters and lawbreakers”.
Six people were killed in the western town of Tuyserkan after shots were fired, state television reported, while a local legislator said two people had been shot dead in the southwestern town of Izeh.
Two others, included a teenage boy, were run down and killed by a fire engine stolen by protesters in the western town of Dorud, the state broadcaster said, bringing the total death toll in four days of protests to 12.
Mr Rouhani played down the unrest, saying: “This is nothing.”
“Criticism and protest are an opportunity not a threat. The nation will themselves respond to the rioters and lawbreakers,” he said in a statement on the presidency’s website.
“Our nation will deal with this minority who chant slogans against the law and people’s wishes, and insult the sanctities and values of the revolution.” The authorities did not give details on who was responsible for the fatal shootings.
Videos spread on social media of demonstrations in several towns and cities including Kermanshah, Khorramabad and Shahinshahr.
Dubai, Jan. 1: As protests over Iran’s faltering economy rapidly spread across the country, a channel on a mobile messaging app run by an exiled journalist helped fan the passions of some of those who took to the street.
The Telegram app closed a channel run by Roohallah Zam after Iranian authorities complained that it was inciting violence, just hours before the government shut down the app entirely on Sunday.
Mr Zam, who denies the allegations, meanwhile launched new channels to spread messages about upcoming protests and share videos from demonstrations.
What happens next could influence the future course of the largest protests Iran has seen since 2009.
It’s hard to overstate the power of Telegram in Iran. Of its 80 million people, an estimated 40 million use the free app created by Russian national Pavel Durov. Its clients share videos and photos, subscribing to groups where everyone from politicians to poets broadcast to fellow users.
While authorities ban social media websites like Facebook and Twitter and censor others, Telegram users can say nearly anything. In the last presidential election, the app played a big role in motivating turnout and spreading political screeds.
Telegram touts itself as being highly encrypted and allows users to set their messages to “selfdestruct” after a certain period, making it a favorite among activists and others concerned about their privacy. That too has made it a worry of Iranian authorities.
Zam has used the app to share news and information published by his AmadNews website. Posts included times and locations for protests, as well as videos of demonstrators shouting inflammatory chants, including those targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate in Iran’s clerically overseen government.
Thousands have taken to the streets of several cities over the past three days to vent anger at high unemployment and rising prices, in the largest demonstrations since those that followed a disputed election nine years ago. Officials have meanwhile targeted Telegram in recent remarks, with prosecutors going as far as filing criminal charges against Durov.
On Saturday, Iran’s telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi wrote to Durov on Twitter, complaining AmadNews was “encouraging hateful conduct, use ( of) Molotov cocktails, armed uprising and social unrest.”
Durov responded by saying Telegram suspended the account. Mr Zam, who has said he fled Iran after being falsely accused of working with foreign intelligence services, denied inciting violence on Telegram.
Telegram’s decision drew criticism from free internet advocates and Iranians.