Iran intensifies crackdown on protests amid internet outage
Videos trickled in of Iranian police opening fire on protesters, who appeared to be standing their ground despite a nationwide internet blackout.
Activists released footage on Sept. 23 of what appeared to be police directly firing at Iranian protesters, who have been expressing rage at the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police.
In one video, police forces were heard from behind a loudspeaker warning protesters that they would fire only seconds before doing so. Iranian authorities have not commented on those reports, but have earlier denied involvement in the killings, blaming the deaths on "infiltrators, saboteurs and terrorists."
While an official death toll has yet to be announced, the foreign-based Iran Human Rights organization counted at least 50 deaths by Sept. 23, among them many juveniles.
"We will stand our ground on the streets until the full liberation of our country," said Salim Haghighi in an interview with Voice of America, less than a day after his 16-year-old son Milan was killed in the north-western city of Oshnavieh.
