Iran protests: Twelve reported dead as mass anti-government rallies continue

Iranian students clash with riot police during an anti-government protest around the University of Tehran
EPA
Eleanor Rose1 January 2018

12 people have been killed in a wave of anti-government rallies sweeping across Iran, according to state TV.

The reported death toll rose as Iranian government television said security forces repelled "armed protesters" who tried to take over police stations and military bases.

The state TV report said 10 were killed during clashes Sunday night.

"Some armed protesters tried to take over some police stations and military bases but faced serious resistance from security forces," state TV reported. It did not say where those attacks occurred.

Two people were reported killed during unauthorised rallies on Saturday night by a semi-official news agency in Doroud, a city 200 miles south-west of Tehran, in Iran's Lorestan province.

According to a local politician speaking to Mehr agency, two protesters died from gunshot wounds during clashes at demonstrations that stretched late into Saturday night.

Iranian protesters chant slogans at a rally in Tehran, Iran
AP

They were the first deaths attributed to the anti-government protests, which began on Thursday.

The rallies, sparked by discontent over Iran's economic troubles, are largest to sweep the Islamic Republic since the protests that followed the disputed 2009 election.

Tensions rose as protesters shared messages on the Telegram messaging app, which authorities blocked on Sunday along with Instagram.

President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged the public's anger over the Islamic Republic's flagging economy, though he and others warned that the government wouldn't hesitate to crack down on those it considers lawbreakers.

Ten have been reported dead by Iranian state TV in clashes since protests began
AP

Boris Johnson has voiced concerns about the threat of a clampdown on protests in Iran, saying citizens must have the right to demonstrate peacefully.

The British Foreign Secretary, who visited Tehran earlier this month, said he was "watching events with concern".

He tweeted: "Watching events in Iran with concern. Vital that citizens should have the right to demonstrate peacefully."

Thousands have taken to the streets in cities across Iran, starting on Thursday in Mashhad, the country's second-largest city and a Shiite holy site.

State TV reported that some protesters chanted the name of the US-backed shah, who fled into exile just before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and later died.

On Sunday, the ILNA news agency reported that authorities have arrested some 80 protesters in the city of Arak, 173 miles south of Tehran.

Iran's economy has improved since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw the country limit uranium enrichment in exchange for an end to some international sanctions.

Tehran now sells its oil on the global market and has signed deals to purchase tens of billions of dollars' worth of Western aircraft.

Unemployment, however, remains high, and official inflation has soared to 10 per cent.

A recent increase in egg and poultry prices by as much as 40 percent, which a government spokesman blamed on a cull over avian flu fears, appears to have sparked the rallies.

US President Donald Trump, who has been tweeting in support of protesters in Iran, continued into the New Year, describing the country as "failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration."

"The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years," he wrote. "They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!"

While some have shared Trump's tweets, many in Iran distrust him as he's refused to re-certify the nuclear deal and as his travel bans have blocked Iranians from getting US visas.

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