Sofian Khan: Protesters in Iran were exposed to gunfire as police opened fire with live ammunition and tear-gas canisters on Sunday as the movement turned violent.
Police started responding in such a manner as about 500 young people gathered in the main square and outside a mosque in the southwestern city of Khorramshahr in a demonstration against water shortages and pollution.
For the past 3 days, Khorramshahr has been the scene of demonstrations, along with the nearby city of Abadan. Observing the broadcast of the state television, banks with broken windows were seen and a footage of a demonstrator armed with a rifle was also detected.
Police fired tear gas as protesters set fire to a bridge, and to a garden surrounding a museum which is a memorial to the Iran-Iraq war. The protests were the latest outbreak of unrest throughout Iran, following demonstrations and strikes in Tehran last week over economic mismanagement.
Iran has been the subject of economic woes eversince the US pulled out of a 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers that had lifted international sanctions in exchange for curbs on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program in May.
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