SIRJAN, Iran, Nov 17 (NNN-ISNA) – One person was killed, in the Iranian city of Sirjan, during overnight protests against a decision by authorities, to ration and increase the price of petrol by at least 50 percent, as part of efforts to offset effect of crippling US sanctions.
“Unfortunately someone was killed,” the central city’s acting Governor, Mohammad Mahmoudabadi, was quoted as saying.
He said, the cause of the death and whether “the individual was shot or not” was still unclear, adding that, other people were wounded in the demonstrations on Friday night.
Mahmoudabadi said, “Security forces did not have permission to shoot and were only allowed to fire warning shots… which they did.” He added, it was a “calm gathering” that was exploited by some, who “destroyed public property, damaged fuel stations and also wanted to access the oil company’s main fuel depots and set fire to them.”
Their effort was thwarted by the forces, including the police, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia.
Earlier Saturday, “scattered” protests had broken out overnight, in other cities including, Abadan, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Birjand, Gachsaran, Khoramshahr, Mahshahr, Mashhad and Shiraz.
Videos posted on social media from inside Iran showed protesters setting fire to buildings and clashing with riot police. In other videos protesters appeared to block roads and set fire in the streets in Tehran and some other cities.– NNN-ISNA