Protest breaks out at kid’s Iran funeral

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A large anti-government protest broke out in Iran on Friday at the funeral of a child killed in a shooting that his mother blamed on security forces.

Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of protesters at the funeral for 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak in the southwestern city of Izeh. Protests also started in the eastern city of Zahedan, which has seen the deadliest violence since the nationwide demonstrations began.

The protests began after the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman who was being held by the country’s morality police. They rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics and an end to the theocracy established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

State-run media in Iran reported that seven people were killed and several wounded, including security forces, in a shooting in Izeh on Wednesday. Authorities blamed the attack on “terrorists” without providing further details.

Among the victims was Kian. His mother, Zeinab Molaei, said security forces stopped the family in their car and told them to drive away for their own safety because of a nearby protest. When they turned around, the security forces opened fire on the vehicle, she said, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.

An intelligence officer from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was also killed Friday during a violent demonstration in Sahneh, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported.