6 Dec 2024
Wednesday 27 November 2019 - 14:32
Story Code : 364311

Hundreds of banks and government sites burned in Iran unrest: interior minister

Reuters - Approximately 731 banks and 140 government sites were torched in recent unrest in Iran, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in remarks published by the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.

More than 50 bases used by security forces were attacked and approximately 70 gas stations were also burned, he said, without specifying where the attacks took place.

According to IRNA, Rahmani Fazli also said up to 200,000 people took part nationwide in the unrest that began on Nov. 15 after the announcement of gasoline price hikes.

London-based Amnesty International said on Monday it had recorded at least 143 protesters killed in the protests, the worst anti-government unrest in Iran since authorities put down the Green Revolution demonstrations against election fraud in 2009.

Iran has rejected Amnestys death toll. It says several people, including members of the security forces, were killed and more than 1,000 people arrested. The Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group, said the number of arrests was probably closer to 4,000.

The protests quickly turned political, with protesters calling on top leaders to step down. The government has blamed thugs linked to exiles and the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia for stirring up the street unrest.

The protests came as new U.S. sanctions imposed this year cut off nearly all of Irans oil exports, and as similar protest movements erupted in Iraq and Lebanon against governments that include heavily armed pro-Iran factions.

Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Paul Tait
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