A Security Institution: Protests Occurred at 100 Locations and Over 1,000 People Were Arrested
The FARS News Agency has published a report citing a security institution regarding the scope of recent protests in Iran against gasoline price hikes. According to this report, gatherings and demonstrations took place at 100 locations across Iran and more than 1,000 people have been arrested.
The report states: The total number of protesters and rioters from Friday night until now is estimated at 87,400 people, of which approximately 82,200 were men and 5,200 were women.
In the FARS News Agency report, it is claimed: “A significant portion of the protesters were merely present at the gathering sites and did not participate with the core nucleus of the riots. Nevertheless, warning text messages were sent to many of them by security agencies.”
The report also claims: “The operational methods of the core violence nucleus indicate that these individuals were fully trained and, unlike many people who were caught off guard by the sudden gasoline price increase, these individuals were lying in wait and prepared for such a situation.”
According to the FARS report, “Out of 1,080 cities and towns in the country, protests and small and large gatherings took place at 100 locations, with the population of these gatherings estimated between 50 to a maximum of 1,500 people. The scale of violence and extent of destruction by rioters was broader and more destructive compared to the gatherings of December 2017, and as a result, casualties and material damage increased compared to that period. The provinces of Khuzestan, Greater Tehran, Fars, and Kerman suffered the most damage to public property.”
The news agency wrote: “Precise statistics on the number of casualties are not available, but most deaths resulted from armed mob attacks on oil depots and military bases, which occurred during efforts to prevent explosions at oil depots and disarm military bases. Some police and civilian forces also lost their lives in these attacks.”
According to this report, “So far, approximately 1,000 people have been arrested in the recent unrest across the country, and more than 100 banks and 57 large shops in just one province have been set on fire or looted. As an example, in one of the most tragic incidents last night in Tehran province, after armed mobs attacked a bank and set it on fire, the entire building and its upper residential floors caught fire, and a number of people became trapped on the building’s roof.”
Source: DW
