More than eight people are dead after five days of anti-government protests in Iran.
TEHRAN, Iran — The death toll in five days of anti-government protests in Iran climbed Monday as plainclothes police officers kept a close watch over a tense capital and President Hassan Rouhani continued to appeal for calm.
Iranian news agencies reported six more deaths nationwide, bringing the total to eight killed since the unrest began Thursday. The Associated Press, citing state television, said 12 people had been killed in total, but had no details.
Rouhani told a meeting of Iranian lawmakers that his government would take action against “a small minority” of demonstrators who he said had insulted the sanctity of the Islamic Revolution and damaged property.
But in an effort to assuage public anger, Rouhani acknowledged that some who took to the streets in Iran’s largest unauthorized demonstrations in years were suffering economically and that their concerns should be heard.
“The enemy will not remain silent when faced with the Iranian nation’s progress and greatness, but there are also deceived people among the protesters who have rightful demands,” Rouhani said, according to state-run Press TV.
Accounts posted on Iranian social media channels said police clashed with demonstrators in the southern town of Izeh who attempted to take over police and military installations, but state TV said security forces repelled the attacks.
Two people were shot dead there Sunday, lawmaker Hedayatollah Khademi told Iranian news agencies, but it was not clear whether the shots were fired by security forces or demonstrators.
The official ISNA news agency reported Monday that Izeh was “quiet and tranquil now, and local officials are in control.”
Iran’s interior ministry said Rouhani had asked security forces not to repeat “the same tragic mistakes” of 2009, when authorities violently crushed an uprising that followed the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
While hundreds have been arrested since last week, and Iran has blocked access to the Instagram and Telegram social media apps to prevent protests from spreading, security forces have mostly avoided using deadly force to put down demonstrations.
It was the second consecutive day that Rouhani — a prime target of demonstrators frustrated with his fail- ure to deliver on promises of economic and social reforms — has broadcast a message of understanding via state media.
On Sunday, he was quoted as saying: “Criticism and protest are the people’s rights, and they should lead to solutions to the country’s problems.”
But there was no immediate sign of how Rouhani’s administration or the ruling Shiite Muslim theocracy would address the demands of a large and varied group of protesters who lack a coherent message or leader.
The rallies that began Thursday in the city of Mashhad in anger over rising prices and persistent unemployment have since spread to more than 25 cities and taken aim at the entire ruling establishment.