New Delhi: After tensions a day earlier, a city in Iran that was the scene of a bloody action last month woke up to new destruction on Saturday, according to state TV. Protests ravaged the city after Friday prayers in Zahedan, a southeastern city with a Baloch ethnic population. The windows of the shops were broken and the doors of the street were opened. The sidewalks were littered with broken glass. ATM damaged. Safai Karamcharis arrived and started removing debris from the damaged shops. The protests in Zahedan come as protests continue across Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s ethics police on 16 September.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, the protesters pelted stones at motorists and damaged banks and other private property. Officials said 57 demonstrators were arrested, with an estimated thousands being detained as a result of the protests. Provincial police commander Ahmed Taheri said security forces were searching for additional suspects. Although the protests began in response to the country’s mandatory hijab, they have developed into the Islamic Republic’s most serious challenge since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections.
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According to rights groups, security forces used ammunition and tear gas to disperse the crowd, killing more than 200 people. On 30 September, violence broke out in the troubled town of Zahedan, which activists describe as the bloodiest day since nationwide protests began. Outrage erupted after a police officer accused a Baloch teenager of raping a Baloch teenager, sparking tensions in an underdeveloped region of the Shia theocracy’s minority Sunni Muslims.
Rights groups said dozens were killed when security forces opened fire on the crowd in what residents call “Bloody Friday”. Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based organization, puts the death toll at over 90. The Zahedan violence was described by Iranian officials as involving unidentified separatists, but no details or evidence were provided. Unrest flared up again in the city on Friday, according to video footage, reportedly after afternoon prayers at Zahedan showed crowds gathering, “I will kill anyone who kills my brother!” The scale of the clashes was unknown, but Iranian state television later aired footage, blaming 150 “rioters” for the devastation.
(with inputs from agencies)