Four killed in unrest in Iran despite the appeal of Rohani quiet

AFP

AFP

Monday, 1 January 2018 04:05

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Monday, 1 January 2018 04:05

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IRAN, Four people have been killed in new unrest night in Iran, despite a call from president Hassan Rohani in the calm after days of protests unseen for decades against the cost of living and the power.

For the fourth night in a row, the Iranians are again down Sunday evening in the street in several cities of the country including the capital Tehran to protest against the power and the economic difficulties – unemployment, cost of living and corruption.

According to videos posted online by the iranian media and social networks, the demonstrators were attacked and sometimes burned down public buildings, and religious centres of the banks or the headquarters of the Basij (militia islamic regime). The protesters have also set fire to police cars.

A total of six people have been killed and hundreds arrested since the start Thursday of the demonstrations and against the government that erupted in Machhad (north-east), before taking control of the magnitude and spread across the country.

Sunday night, two protesters were killed by bullets during the protests in Izeh (south-west), said the local mp Hedayatollah Khademi cited by the agency, Ilna. It has, however, told to ignore “if the fire came from security forces or protesters”.

In another city affected by the protests, Doroud (west), two people were killed Sunday night in the violence. Protesters seized control of a fire truck and dropped on the top of a slope. He rammed their vehicle and the two passengers were killed,” said the prefect to the tv.

On Saturday, two protesters were killed also in Doroud. Here, too, a person in charge said that the security forces had not fired on protesters.

Right to protest

The demonstrations took place Sunday evening in spite of the fact that the authorities have limited the access to social networks, by blocking cell phones, to the mail-Telegram and Instagram, used to call for demonstrations.

Out of his silence after three days of protests, Mr Rohani admitted that Iran had to provide “a space” so that the population can express its “concerns day-to-day”, but it has condemned the violence and destruction of public property.

“To criticize, it is totally different than using violence,” he stressed during the Council of ministers. “It is necessary to create the conditions for the critic, the protests are legal, including demonstrations and rallies are legal. It is the right of the people”.

Mr. Rohani, who is elected for a second term last may, has allowed Iran to break out of its isolation with the lifting of international sanctions that had been imposed to denounce the nuclear activities sensitive to the country.

This lifting of sanctions with the signing of a historic agreement with major powers on iran’s nuclear program gave hope to the Iranians for an improvement of the bad economic situation, but the fruits of this agreement are still pending.

Unpublished since the protest movement against the re-election of ex-president ultraconservateur Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, violently suppressed the protests have been enameled since Thursday of violence with clashes between protesters and security forces, and attacks against public property.

More than 400 arrests

The unrest took place in the cities of Nourabad, Doroud and Khoramabad, “and the troublemakers have been arrested,” said Habibollah Khojastehpour, the vice-governor of the province of Lorestan (west).

Small demonstrations also took place in Kermanshah (west), Shahinshahr (near Esfahan), Takestan (north), Zanjan (north), Toyeserkan (west) and Nahavand, where, according to videos posted online, public buildings, banks, or seats of the Basij (militia islamic) have been attacked by the protesters.

In Tehran, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a small group of protesters who were throwing slogans hostile to the power in the neighborhood of the university of Tehran.

In the capital, 200 people have been arrested. Some 200 others have been arrested in towns and cities province, according to media reports.

Taking again the regime in Iran, their sworn enemy, the United States have made Sunday their support “to the right of the iranian people to express themselves peacefully and to be heard”.

Iran, for its part, denounced the interference of the United States in its affairs.