Iran concedes killing of demonstrators

Islam Mohamed

The Iranian state television conceded for the first time that security forces had shot and killed what it described as “rioters” during protests against the rise in fuel prices.

The television also lashed out on December 3 on international media coverage of the protests that erupted across Iran as of November 15.

Around 208 demonstrators at least were killed during a crackdown by security forces on the protests, according to Amnesty International on December 2.

According to Iranian authorities, around 200,000 people had participated in the demonstrators.

However, the real numbers of the demonstrators can be far larger.

Targeting journalists

US Senator Ted Cruz criticized the targeting of journalists by the Iranian regime.

“The Iranian regime is trying to intimidate and silence journalists broadcasting in Persian because they know that simple truth poses one of the greatest threats to their continued rule,” he wrote on Twitter.

Hundreds of people staged a protest in Paris on Monday against what they described as the “massacre” being committed in Iran.

The Iranian regime have moved into a new phase in which they give systematic instructions for shooting and killing the demonstrators, the organizers of the protest said.

“This is unprecedented,” they said. “Iran had not seen such a thing before.”

An Iranian MP threatened on December 3 to publish the real numbers of dead and injured victims in the protests, if the authorities did not do this themselves.

International reaction

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the protests ranging on in Iran show that the Iranians are fed up already.

He added that the Iranians have already had enough of the clerics who steal their money and the supreme guides who steel tens of millions of dollars.

Iranian security forces chase the demonstrators on the streets and beat them to death with batons. Government snipers also hide above rooftops and snipe the demonstrators.