Monday, November 18, 2019

Iran’s top leader warns ‘thugs’ as protests reach 100 cities

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s 
supreme leader on Sunday cautiously backed 
the government’s decision to raise gasoline 
prices by 50% after days of widespread 
protests, calling those who attacked public 
property during demonstrations “thugs” and 
signaling that a potential crackdown loomed.
The government shut down internet 
access across the nation of 80 million 
people to staunch demonstrations that 
took place in a reported 100 cities and towns. That made it increasingly difficult 
to gauge whether unrest continued. Images published by state and semiofficial 
media showed the scale of the damage in images of burned gas stations and banks, 
torched vehicles and roadways littered with debris.
Since the price hike, demonstrators have abandoned cars along major highways 
and joined mass protests in the capital, Tehran, and elsewhere. Some protests 
turned violent, with demonstrators setting fires as gunfire rang out.
It remains to be seen how many people were arrested, injured or killed. Videos 
from the protests have shown people gravely wounded.
Iranian authorities on Sunday raised the official death toll in the violence to at 
least three. Attackers targeting a police station in the western city of Kermanshah 
on Saturday killed an officer, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday. A lawmaker said another person was killed in a suburb of Tehran. Earlier, one man 
was reported killed Friday in Sirjan, a city some 800 kilometers (500 miles) 
southeast of Tehran. READ MORE