Iranians protest in Tehran as clashes grip country’s west: Local media

TEHRAN – Sporadic protests broke out in the Iranian capital on the evening of Jan 3, according to local media, which also reported intensifying clashes in the west of the country.

The demonstrations kicked off on Dec 28 when shopkeepers staged a strike over economic concerns, but have since

spread in size and scope

, with protesters making political demands.

The protests have affected, to varying degrees, at least 40 different cities, mostly medium-sized and located in the country’s west, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements and media reports.

At least 12 people have been killed, including members of the security forces, according to a toll based on official reports.

Protests on the evening of Jan 3 in Tehran were described as “limited” by the Fars news agency, which said they were “generally made up of groups of 50 to 200 young people”.

Tehran’s population is about 10 million.

Demonstrations were reported in the districts of Novobat and Tehran Pars in the capital’s east; Ekteban, Sadeghieh and Sattarkhan in the west; and Naziabad and Abdolabad in the south, Fars said.

Demonstrators shouted slogans including “death to the dictator”, Fars said, though no major incidents were reported beyond some stone throwing and rubbish bins being set alight.

The news agency said the situation in Tehran “contrasted with an intensification of violence and organised attacks in other regions, notably the country’s west”.

In Malekshahi, a county of about 20,000 residents including a sizeable Kurdish population, a member of the security forces was killed in clashes, Iranian media reported on Jan 3.

“Rioters attempted to storm a police station,” Fars said, adding that “two assailants were killed”.

Local media’s accounting of the protests is not exhaustive, and state-run outlets have downplayed their coverage of the demonstrations, while videos flooding social media are often impossible to verify. AFP