Footage shows clashes as protests spread to more parts of Iran
Violent confrontations erupted on Wednesday between anti-government demonstrators and security personnel across multiple parts of Iran, as protests driven by the ongoing economic crisis entered their 11th day.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, said that armed men shot and killed two policemen in the southwestern city of Lordegan.
Videos posted on social media show tense confrontations between protesters and security forces, with the sound of gunfire in the background.
Footage from several other areas shows security forces firing on crowds of protesters, some of whom were throwing stones, and using tear gas.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the protests have now spread to 111 cities and towns across all 31 provinces.
At least 34 protesters and four security personnel have reportedly been killed during the unrest, and 2,200 protesters have been arrested.
The deaths and identities of 21 people have been confirmed, while Iranian officials have reported the deaths of five security personnel.
The protests began on December 28 when shopkeepers took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, to express their anger over another sharp drop in the value of the Iranian rial against the US dollar in the open market.
The rial has fallen to record lows over the past year, and inflation has soared to 40%, as the economy has been pressured by sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program and further weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.
University students soon joined the protests, which then spread to other cities, where crowds were often heard chanting slogans against the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and sometimes in support of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s late former Shah.
On Wednesday, verified video showed a crowd protesting in Qazvin, northwest of Tehran, chanting “Death to the dictator”—a reference to Khamenei—and “Long live the Shah.”
Footage from the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas showed demonstrators chanting “police, support, support” before security forces dispersed them.
In the Shiite holy city of Mashhad, in the northwest of the country, protesters clashed with security forces and were forced to retreat. Another video showed people chanting slogans in support of the Pahlavi dynasty, which was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution.
A large demonstration also took place in the southwestern city of Abadan, near the Iraqi border, in the late afternoon, with protesters chanting, “Cannons, tanks, fireworks! The mullahs must be eliminated,” a reference to Iran’s clerical leadership, according to verified video.
Filmed from balconies in the city, security forces opened fire as they chased protesters who were throwing stones and other objects.
As night fell, security forces were filmed firing tear gas to disperse a protest in Aligudarz, another western city, while crowds gathered in a square, chanting, “Long live the people’s uprising!”
Protesters were seen tearing down a statue of Qaimeh in Fars province. Soleimani was the head of the Quds Force and one of Iran’s most powerful figures. Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike ordered by Donald Trump in 2020.
In Lordagan, Fars reported that two police officers were killed during protests on Wednesday.
It added that the officers, whom it named as Hadi Azraslim and Moslem Mahdvinasab, were shot dead by “armed individuals” who were part of a group it called “thugs.”
It was not immediately possible to verify the report because the BBC and other independent international media are either not allowed to report from inside Iran or face severe restrictions on their movements if allowed.
However, Lordagan has been the scene of violent clashes during the unrest, with two protesters killed there last Thursday.
