Two more protesters shot dead as Iranians refuse to bow to police repression and demonstrations go on

Two more people have died after security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Iran as protests continue.

Social media footage showed security forces firing into crowds in the south-eastern city of Zahedan, four weeks after dozens were killed in protests there over allegations that a teenage girl was raped by a senior policeman.

Protesters have also joined others across Iran in demonstrating against the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested by morality police for wearing her headscarf incorrectly.

Activists estimate that in Zahedan alone, nearly 100 people have been killed since a September 30 rally there set off a violent police response.

The protests have become the greatest threat to the country’s theocratic government since the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, evolving from focusing on women’s rights and the state-mandated headscarf, or hijab, to calls to oust Shiite clerics who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Weeks into the protests, women continue to remove their hijabs during the street demonstrations as international pressure grows on Iran’s government over its crackdown on protesters.

The demonstrations have involved over 125 cities. At least 270 people have been killed and nearly 14,000 have been arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan

province, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, is a majority Sunni region. Its Baluch people long have complained about being treated as second-class citizens by Iran’s Shiite theocracy.

On Friday, videos from the advocacy group HalVash showed demonstrators in the streets of Zahedan, the province’s capital. Some chanted “death to the Basiji”, a reference to the volunteer forces of the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is answerable only to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Later, footage showed clouds of what appeared to be tear gas in the streets. The sound of gunshots echoed, with one video showing protesters holding what appeared to be spent rifle cartridges that littered the street.

Later, state television said one person had been killed. It did not say who was behind the shooting.