Iran riots leave ten dead as protests escalate
NATIONWIDE PROTESTS in Iran have seen their most violent night as “armed protesters” tried to overrun military bases and police stations before security forces repelled them, bringing the death toll in the unrest to at least ten, state television reported.
The demonstrations, the largest to strike Iran since its disputed 2009 presidential election, began on Thursday in Mashhad and have since expanded to several cities, with some protesters chanting against the government and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian state television aired footage of a ransacked private bank, broken windows, overturned cars and a fire engine that appeared to have been set ablaze.
It reported that clashes on Sunday night killed 10 people.
“Some armed protesters tried to take over some police stations and military bases but faced serious resistance from security forces,” state TV reported.
Last night, state TV said clashes killed six people in the western town of Tuyserkan, 295 kilometres (185 miles) south-west of Tehran.
It said clashes in the town of Shahinshahr, 315 kilometres (195 miles) south of Tehran, killed three more. It did not say where the tenth person was killed.
Earlier on Monday, the semiofficial ILNA news agency quoted Hedayatollah Khademi, a representative for the town of Izeh, as saying two people died there on Sunday night.
Many in Izeh, some 455 kilometres (280 miles) south-west of Tehran, have hunting rifles in their homes.
Two protesters were also killed during clashes late on Saturday in Doroud, some 325 kilometres (200 miles) south-west of Tehran in Lorestan province, authorities earlier said.
On Sunday, Iran blocked access to Instagram and the popular messaging app Telegram used by activists to organise.
President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged the public’s anger over the Islamic Republic’s flagging economy, though he and others warned that the government would not hesitate to crack down on those it considers lawbreakers.
That was echoed by Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, who urged authorities to confront rioters on state TV.
“I demand all prosecutors across the country to get involved and the approach strong,” he said.
Iran’s economy has improved since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the end of some international sanctions.
That improvement has not reached the average Iranian, however.
Unemployment remains high and egg and poultry prices recently rose by as much as 40 per cent, which appears to have been the spark for the protests.
While the protests have sparked clashes, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its affiliates have not intervened as they have in other unauthorised demonstrations since the 2009 election. should be