Tehran: Five people have been killed in anti-government protests that broke out in Iran for the third day running yesterday.
Protesters were chanting, “Shame on you. Leave Iran” outside Tehran University, aiming their anger at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Videos posted on social media showed two young Iranian men lying motionless on the ground and covered with blood and a voiceover said they had been shot dead by police. It said security forces fired on protesters in the town of Dorud and killed four. One was killed in Ahwaz.
Protests broke out in at least nine cities including Tehran, Zahedan, Qazvin, Kermanshah, Quchan, Sari, Qaemshahr, Rasht and Hamedan. Up to 70 students gathered in front of Tehran University and hurled rocks at police. A social media video showed them chanting “Death to the dictator”, a reference to Khamenei.
Footage later showed riot police clubbing and arresting the protesters. A group of government supporters also gathered outside the university as police tried to disperse protesters. Authorities closed two nearby metro stations “until the end of the unrest.”
Protesters attacked a town hall in central Tehran, overturning a police car and burning the Iranian flag. Dozens more gathered in the western city of Shahr-e Kord chanting “We don’t want an Islamic Republic”.
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli warned against attempts to promote protests via social media. The authorities have reportedly cut internet access to mobile phones, with the main networks interrupted at least in Tehran shortly before midnight. Several Iranian news agencies warned Telegram might soon be shut down after communications minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi accused one popular channel, Amadnews, of encouraging an “armed uprising”.