Summary
- Iranian authorities have continued a hardline crackdown on anti-government protests now entering their second week, with the death toll reaching at least 116, according to reports.
- With Iranian authorities making it harder to assess the situation by cutting off international calls and internet access, the protests are said to be increasingly intensifying.
- Iranian authorities have continued the hardline crackdown, warning that protesters will be labeled “enemies of God” and that participation is punishable by death.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Iranian authorities continue hardline crackdown on protesters
Bloodshed erupts… death toll exceeds 100
Reports say the death toll has topped 100 as Iranian authorities have continued a hardline crackdown on anti-government protests now entering their second week.
The Associated Press reported on the 10th (local time), citing U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), that at least 116 people had been killed as of that day since the anti-government protests began in Iran in late last month.
That is a sharp increase from the previous day, when the death toll was reported to be 65. However, it has not been confirmed how many of the dead were protesters.
HRANA said more than 2,600 people have been detained in connection with the protests.
Since the 8th, international calls and internet access in Iran have been cut off, making it harder to gauge the situation on the ground. Still, the protests are reported to be intensifying.
Videos shared online show thousands of people taking to the streets in northern Tehran the previous day to demonstrate.
Among them, footage has also circulated of a man shouting, “Death to Khamenei.”
CNN also cited residents as saying there have been deaths caused by security forces’ violent crackdown at protest sites.
Hospitals reportedly saw “bodies piled on top of one another.”
Iran’s state TV has not mentioned deaths among protesters, while continuing to report only that members of the security forces have died.
It said protests continued until the morning of that day in the capital Tehran and in Mashhad in the northeast. It also repeatedly aired images of protesters believed to be firing shots at security forces.
Semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Iranian authorities had arrested about 200 people belonging to an “operational terror team,” and that they were carrying firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.
Iranian authorities have continued their hardline response, warning that anyone who joins the protests will be executed.
Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, Iran’s prosecutor general, said in a statement broadcast on state TV that “anyone who takes part in the protests will be regarded as an enemy of God,” adding that “this is an offense punishable by death.”
He also warned that those who helped protesters would face the same charge.
Concerns are also growing that by severing connections with the outside world, including the internet, Iranian authorities could crack down on protesters even more brutally.
Kim Dae-young, Hankyung.com reporter kdy@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
hankyung@bloomingbit.ioThe Korea Economic Daily Global is a digital media where latest news on Korean companies, industries, and financial markets.
