ZCZC
BFF-43
IRAN-POLITICS-PROTEST,LEAD
Iran’s Guards praise ‘timely’ action against protests
TEHRAN, Nov 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Thursday
praised the armed forces for taking “timely” action against “rioters” and
suggested calm had been restored after days of unrest sparked by a hike in
petrol prices.
Authorities vowed to arrest leaders of the protests that started last
Friday, in which police stations were attacked, petrol pumps torched and
shops looted, and which Iran has blamed on a plot by foreign enemies.
While the Internet remained mostly blocked for a fifth day, state TV
showed footage of what it said were spontaneous pro-government rallies to
celebrate that the conspiracy had been defeated.
Crowds chanted messages such as “death to seditionists, death to America”
and “the blood in our veins is a gift to our leader” in cities including Qom,
Isfahan, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas and Kerman.
In the days of unrest, “incidents, big and small, caused by the rise in
petrol price took place in (a little) less than 100 cities across Iran,” said
a statement on the Guards’ official website Sepahnews.com.
It said the “incidents were ended in less than 24 hours and in some cities
in 72 hours” as a result of the “armed forces’ insight and timely action”.
Protest leaders were arrested by the Guards’ intelligence arm in the
province of Tehran and Alborz as well as in the southern city of Shiraz, said
the statement.
The “arrest of the rioters’ leaders has contributed significantly to
calming the situation,” it added.
– ‘People’s vigilance’ –
A top Iranian security official, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, vowed that
“every single one of the rioters, wherever in Iran they may be, will be
identified and punished”.
“Enemies wanted to exploit the Iranian nation’s protest regarding
livelihood issues but failed due to the people’s vigilance,” Shamkhani,
secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by
Mehr news agency.
Iran’s neighbour Iraq has also recently been struck by anti-government
protests, with demonstrators voicing resentment against what they describe as
Tehran’s meddling in their country.
The full extent of the bloodshed in Iran remained difficult to ascertain
given the near-total internet restriction.
Officials have confirmed five deaths, of four security personnel and one
civilian.
The United Nations human rights office has said it was alarmed by reports
live ammunition had caused a “significant number of deaths”.
London-based rights group Amnesty International said more than 100
demonstrators were believed to have been killed and that the real toll could
be as high as 200.
– ‘Armed rioters’ –
Iran’s mission to the UN disputed the Amnesty toll in a tweet, saying
figures “not confirmed by the government are speculative” and in many cases a
“disinformation campaign waged against Iran”.
Iran’s ambassador to Britain Hamid Baeidinejad called those who had
attacked public property “organised armed rioters” in a tweet.
He also said they had planned to “detonate Asaluyeh refinery” in southern
Iran and to “sabotage the national phone system.”
The internet blackout remained largely in effect on Thursday, with
Iranians abroad tweeting hashtags like #Internet4Iran and calling for an end
to the outage.
It was the powerful national security council that made the decision to
pull the plug on internet access, according to semi-official news agency
ISNA.
Iran’s telecommunications minister said Wednesday the outage had caused
some local businesses a “90 percent drop in transactions” and forced some
Iranian companies dealing with foreign partners to temporarily shut down.
Reformist MP Ali Motahari argued that “continuing the internet blackout is
not necessary, since calm has returned to the country,” adding that the
parliament would “react” if the outage continues.
ISNA said internet access and connectivity to apps such as “WhatsApp and
Instagram” had been restored in the southern province of Hormzgan, but this
could not be immediately verified.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1925HRS