Public reports of protests in Karaj city
A special reporter for the Persian-language Christian News Network reports on yesterday's events:
According to reports from people in Karaj city, people who had been attending the 40th anniversary ceremony of Hadith Najafi and Sarina Esmailzadeh since 9 am in Behesht Sakineh were once again brutally attacked by government forces.
They stated that at first the crowd was small and we only protested by clapping and chanting "Martyr's hadith, martyr's hadith." Among the people, there were many plainclothes officers who had come with photography, videography, and drones, and they kept telling them to disperse or we would deal with them.
Although there was no specific slogan or riot, the plainclothes officers and the officers attacked the people and said, "Today we will kill you all." A terrible clash ensued, with tear gas and sound bombs being thrown at the people, and dozens, perhaps more, fell to the ground, injured and bleeding, right from the start.
Government agents identified protesters by shining green laser light on their clothing and shot them with snipers. It was as if a war had taken place in Behesht Sakineh and Hesarak Karaj.
According to reports from the people of Karaj, several officers have been killed on the highway and the streets are filled with plainclothes security forces who are also throwing tear gas into homes.
People continued to protest when they returned from Behesht Sakineh, but were attacked and suppressed by security forces. Protesters also broke cement blocks installed on the highway and threw them at security forces in self-defense.
During these protests, many people were shot with shotguns and rubber bullets by security forces, at close range.
Even when people tried to get into their cars, plainclothes and security forces rode towards them on motorbikes and smashed the windows of the cars, injuring many more.
Even as people fled, they were shot at at close range with plastic paintballs and shotgun pellets. All exits from Behesht Sikneh to the highway were blocked, and there was a clash on the highway over people tearing up cement blocks and throwing them at officers.
The highway traffic lasted for an hour, during which, amidst the traffic, clashes, and flooding of the crowd, people got out of their cars and continued to chant slogans and protest towards the other side of Hesarak Bridge and Kharazmi Boulevard.
People lowered all the flags and set fire to a police station. The conflict was so intense that, like a war zone, a large number of security forces were deployed by helicopter on the Tehran-Qazvin highway to suppress it. Several sound bombs were even dropped from these helicopters towards houses and on the street, so that the conflict and the people's slogans reached the alleys and neighborhoods.
The number of security motorbikes and plainclothes officers increased dramatically, attacking people with batons, tear gas, and guns.
According to eyewitnesses, six security officers were also killed in Behesht Sakineh during these clashes. Protests and clashes, the sound of gunfire, stun grenades, and tear gas continued in Karaj until nightfall.
Protests in Shiraz are also continuing, and the sounds of protests and shooting can be heard until late at night.
Unfortunately, the security situation in Iranian cities is not good at all. People are constantly being attacked and killed by security forces. Even people's phone lines are monitored to identify them so that they can then take action to arrest them.
The Persian-language Christian News Network has published this news to enlighten the public, and defers the accuracy of the news until further reports.
