Iranian police today said they forcefully dispersed a protest of a crowd chanting “norm-breaking” slogans in the southwest of the country.
The latest demonstrations are over economic hardships, and came days after Iran upheld death sentences for three people linked to deadly protests last November sparked by an increase in petrol prices.
State news agency IRNA quoted Behbahan city’s police chief Colonel Mohammad Azizi as saying: “Following a call, a small number of Behbahan city’s people gathered at 9pm on Thursday to protest the economic situation”.
The police reportedly first tried to talk to the crowd “but not only did they not disperse but they started shouting norm-breaking chants”, a term usually used by Iranian authorities to refer to anti-system slogans.
Azizi did not specify whether arrests were made.
In the last year, there have been a number of anti-regime protests in Iran, with videos showing the chanting of slogans including “Don’t be afraid, we are all together” and some that are critical of the regime’s foreign policy: “No Gaza, no Lebanon, I will die for Iran”.
Netblocks, a website that monitors shutdowns, said internet access was restricted and disrupted for about three hours in the Khuzestan region around the time of the protest.
Khuzestan is a key oil-producing region bordering Iraq that has often complained of official neglect.
