New rallies erupt in Iran as protest death toll climbs to 65
TEHRAN: Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic Republic, as activists on Saturday expressed fear that authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under the cover of an internet blackout, with the death toll rising to 65.
The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the Iranian authorities, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States.
Following the movement’s largest protests yet on Thursday, new demonstrations took place late Friday, according to images verified by AFP and other videos published on social media.
This was despite an internet shutdown imposed by the authorities, with monitor Netblocks saying early Saturday that “metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours”.
The blackout has sparked fears among activists that authorities are now violently cracking down on the protests, with less chance that the proof will reach the outside world.
According to a report by the Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll in the protests rose to 65, Anadolu reported.
The report added that protests took place in 512 locations in 180 cities in all 31 provinces, resulting in the deaths of 50 protesters, 14 law enforcement and security officials, and one government-affiliated civilian.
Demonstrations also left dozens injured and 2,311 detained. The injuries were largely caused by pellet shots and plastic bullets, according to the report.
Authorities have not issued a statement about those killed or injured.
Amnesty International said it was analysing “distressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters” since Thursday in an escalation “that has led to further deaths and injuries”.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi warned on Friday that security forces could be preparing to commit a “massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout”, and said she had already received reports of hundreds of people being treated for eye injuries at a single Tehran hospital.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has claimed that at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far, but warned the actual toll could be higher.
Iranian authorities are using the “most blatant tools of repression”, prize-winning filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi said, pointing to the internet blackout.
“Experience has shown that resorting to such measures is intended to conceal the violence inflicted during the suppression of protests,” they added.
‘Seize city centres’
In Tehran’s Saadatabad district, people banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans as cars honked in support.
Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.
In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a Shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun amid fires and people dancing.
In the Pounak district of northern Iran, people were shown dancing round a fire in the middle of a highway. It was not possible to immediately verify the videos.
Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted Shah, hailed the “magnificent” turnout on Friday and urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests on Saturday and Sunday.
“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,” Pahlavi said in a video message on social media. Monitoring Desk
