The protests in Iran continue. Violent clashes with the security forces broke out again in the south-east of the country. According to human rights organizations, several demonstrators were said to have been killed.
According to human rights organizations, several people have been killed by security forces during protests in south-east Iran. Amnesty International said on Friday that up to ten people are believed to have died, including children. There are also dozens more injured. The human rights organization accused the security forces of firing “live ammunition” from rooftops in the city of Khash in Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Norway-based human rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) released a video showing people covered in blood being carried away. She also spoke of several dead and injured. The security forces fired “with intent to kill,” said the London-based group Baloch Activists Campaign (BAC). According to the NGO, “dozens” of people were killed. The hospitals are overcrowded. The state-run IRNA news agency reported that several police officers were injured by stone-throwing demonstrators who set fire to a police post.
There has been a nationwide wave of protests in Iran for more than six weeks – the largest in years. The protests were triggered in September by the death of the young Kurd Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the so-called vice squad. The security forces are proceeding with great severity. According to activists, dozens were killed.
Most recently, reports had sparked unrest in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, according to which the police chief in the provincial capital, Sahedan, allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl. Located near the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the province is one of the poorest regions in the country and home to the Baluchi minority. It mostly adheres to Sunni Islam, while Iran is Shiite-dominated. Human rights organizations have long complained of discrimination against the minority by the Shiite leadership in Tehran.
