Several people were killed during unrest in Iran, Iranian media and rights groups said yesterday, as the biggest protests to hit the Islamic republic for three years over worsening economic conditions sparked violence in several provinces.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that three protesters were killed and 17 were injured during an attack on a police station in Iran’s western province of Lorestan.
“The rioters entered the police headquarters around 1800 (local time) yesterday ... they clashed with police forces and set fire to several police cars,” Fars reported.
Earlier, Fars and rights group Hengaw reported deaths in Lordegan city in the country’s Charmahal and Bakhtiari province.
Authorities confirmed one death in the western city of Kuhdasht, and Hengaw reported another death in the central province of Isfahan.
The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.
The Iranian rial dropped to 1.42 million to the US dollar on Sunday – a more than 56pc decrease in value in six months. The plunging currency has caused soaring inflation – reaching 42.5pc in December – with food prices up by 72pc on average compared with the same time last year.
Fars reported that two people had been killed in Lordegan in clashes between security services and what it called armed protesters. It earlier said several had died.
Hengaw said several people had been killed and wounded there by security forces.
The Revolutionary Guards said one member of its affiliated Basij volunteer paramilitary unit had been killed in Kuhdasht and another 13 wounded, blaming demonstrators of taking advantage of the protests.
Hengaw said that the man, named by the Guards as Amirhossam Khodayari Fard, had been protesting and was killed by security forces.
Hengaw also reported that a protester was shot dead on Wednesday in Isfahan province in central Iran.
Iran’s clerical rulers are grappling with Western sanctions that have battered an economy already reeling from more than 40pc inflation, compounded by Israeli and US air strikes in June targeting the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure and military leadership.
Merchants, shop owners and students in a number of Iranian universities have been demonstrating for days and closing major bazaars.
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