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Protesters and security forces have clashed in three Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the cost of living demonstrations broke out.
The protests started on Sunday in Tehran, where shopkeepers went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, and have since spread to other parts of the country.
On Thursday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported two people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the city of Lordegan, in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and three in Azna, in neighbouring Lorestan province.
“Some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the provincial governor’s office, the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall and banks,” Fars said of Lordegan, adding police responded with tear gas.
According to Fars, several buildings have suffered “severe damage,” and authorities have detained numerous individuals identified as “ringleaders” in connection with the unrest.
In Azna, Fars said “rioters took advantage of a protest gathering … to attack a police commissariat”.
During previous protest movements, state media labelled the demonstrators “rioters”.
Earlier on Thursday, state television reported a member of Iran’s security forces was killed overnight during protests in the western city of Kouhdasht.
The channel, referencing Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan province, reported that a 21-year-old Basij member from Kouhdasht was fatally injured by rioters while attempting to maintain public order.
The Basij are a volunteer paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the republic.
Pourali also revealed that during the demonstrations in Kouhdasht, 13 officers, including police and Basij members, sustained injuries due to stone-throwing by the protesters.
The recent wave of protests began peacefully in the capital and gained momentum as students from at least ten universities participated on Tuesday.
The demonstrations are smaller than the last major outbreak of unrest in 2022, triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.
Her death sparked a nationwide wave of anger that left several hundred people dead, including dozens of members of the security forces.
In Iran, the weekend begins on Thursday, and Saturday marks a long-standing national holiday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought to calm tensions, acknowledging protesters’ “legitimate demands”, calling on the government to take action to improve the economic situation.
“From an Islamic perspective … if we do not resolve the issue of people’s livelihoods, we will end up in hell,” Pezeshkian said at an event broadcast on state television.
Authorities, however, have also promised to take a “firm” stance, and have warned against exploiting the situation to sow chaos.
Local media coverage of the demonstrations has varied, with some outlets focusing on economic difficulties and others on incidents caused by “troublemakers”.
Iran is in the middle of an extended weekend, with authorities declaring Wednesday a bank holiday at the last minute to save energy amid the cold weather.
They made no official link to the protests.
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Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, said on Wednesday peaceful economic protests were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a “decisive response”.
“Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response,” he said.
On Wednesday evening, the Tasnim news agency reported the arrest of seven people it described as being affiliated with “groups hostile to the Islamic Republic based in the United States and Europe”.
It said they had been “tasked with turning the demonstrations into violence”.
