The “riots” following Mahsa Amini’s death in Iran are living their “last days”, an Iranian Interior Ministry official said on Saturday.
The Islamic Republic has been shaken by a protest movement since September 16, following the death of this 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, who died three days after her arrest in Tehran by the morality police who accused her of having broken the strict code of dress. of the Islamic Republic.
Dozens of people, mainly protesters but also members of the security forces, were killed during these demonstrations. Hundreds more, including women, have been arrested.
Situation still tense in Zahedan
“There are some meetings in the universities, with fewer and fewer people. The riots are in their last days,” Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi was quoted as saying by the official Irna agency.
Before adding: “The situation in the provinces is good and we do not have riots that lead to urban violence.”
“Zahedan’s problem is different,” he said, referring to the capital of Sistan-Balochistan province, one of Iran’s poorest regions.
The acts of violence that occurred on September 30 in this city left dozens dead, including members of the police, accusing state media “extremists” of being behind attacks on police stations.
A religious leader designated by the authorities
However, an influential Sunni religious leader in Sistan-Baluchistan, Molavi Abdol Hamid, accused the security forces of shooting “at people gathered around a mosque”. For him, the population was angry about the allegations that a police chief had raped a teenage girl.
On Friday, hundreds of people took to the streets of Zahedan and shouted slogans against the authority, according to videos posted on social media.
“Yesterday’s (Friday) sermon by Molavi Abdol Hamid was provocative,” Mirahmadi was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as saying “150 thugs attacked public property.”
Provincial police chief Ahmad Taheri spoke for his part about the arrest of 57 “rioters”, according to Irna. Molavi Abdol Hamid estimated that “the country’s officials … were all responsible” for the events in Zahedan, according to his website.
Source: BFM TV
