Several protests erupted across Iranian cities on Saturday, with many protesters blocking main roads with their cars and burning tires while chanting “Death to the dictator,” a day after the government announced a surprise decision to ration and hike the price of petrol.
One civilian was killed and other people injured in Iran’s Sirjan, the semi-official news agency ISNA said Saturday. Accodring to Al Arabiya sources, another protester was also killed, named Maitham Abdel Wahab Moneiat.
“Unfortunately someone was killed,” Sirjan’s acting governor Mohammad Mahmoudabadi said in the report, adding that the cause of the death was still unclear.
Other people were injured during the demonstrations, he said.
Mahmoudabadi emphasized that “security forces did not have permission to shoot and were only allowed to fire warning shots… which they did.”
He said it was a “calm gathering” that was exploited by some who “destroyed public property, damaged fuel stations and also wanted to access the oil company’s main fuel depots and set fire to them.”
In the city of Bushehr, security forces used water cannons and live ammunition to disperse protesters as they chanted “dishonorable” while running away.
A number of protesters in Tehran blocked a main highway (the Hemmat Expressway) by turning off their car engines while chanting “Death to the dictator,” in a sign of rising anger against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Other protesters blocked another main road in the Iranian city of Isfahan with their cars as well.