Iran security forces use tear gas in Tehran bazaar as toll rises

Iranian security forces fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators at the Tehran bazaar on Tuesday, as an NGO said more than two dozen people had been killed in a crackdown on the most significant protests to hit the Islamic republic in three years.

The protests were triggered by anger over the rising cost of living, with the Iranian rial losing value again on Tuesday to reach another record low against foreign currencies.

Security forces have now killed at least 27 protesters, including five minors under the age of 18, the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said. Iranian authorities say members of security forces have also been killed, including a policeman who was shot dead on Tuesday.

The protest wave began on December 28 with a shutdown by merchants in the Tehran bazaar, a national economic hub. They have since spread to other areas, especially the west, which is home to Kurdish and Lor minority groups.

It is the most serious protest movement in Islamic republic since the 2022-2023 nationwide rallies sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.

Iran's Fars news agency said "sporadic gatherings" took place around the bazaar during an afternoon shutdown, with police dispersing the protest and demonstrators scattering into the alleyways nearby.

In social media footage verified by AFP, protesters at the scene could also be heard shouting slogans including "Pahlavi will return" and "Seyyed Ali will be overthrown" -- references to the monarchy ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Dozens of people are seen shouting "freedom" and "shameless" in footage posted by IHR and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRNA).

Security forces then fire tear gas at the protesters, who rush to disperse as acrid smoke rises from the ground.

The official IRNA news agency said "some" people were arrested, without giving numbers.

With protests continuing in other areas for a tenth day, HRNA posted footage of large crowds of people marching in protests through Abdanan in western Iran shouting slogans including "this is the last message, the entire regime is the target".

- 'Crush dissent' -

The demonstrations have yet to reach the scale of the 2022-2023 movement, let alone that of the mass 2009 street protests that followed disputed elections.

But against the background of an economic crisis and on the heels of the 12-day war against Israel in June, they present a new challenge for the leadership under 86-year-old Khamenei, in power since 1989.

The government of President Masoud Pezeshkian has announced modest monthly payments for people to alleviate the economic pain, but the head of the judiciary warned Monday that there would be no leniency for "rioters".

According to official announcements in Iranian media, at least 13 people have been killed since the protests began, including members of the security forces.

But IHR said: "At least 27 protesters have been killed by gunfire or other forms of violence carried out by security forces in eight provinces. Five of those killed have been verified to have been children."

It added that more than 1,000 people had been arrested nationwide.

IHR said security forces killed at least six people in a single incident alone on Saturday when they opened fire on protesters in the Malekshahi district of the western Ilam province.

It also accused authorities of raiding the main hospital in Ilam the day after to detain injured protesters.

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that the "attack" on the hospital "exposes yet again how far the Iranian authorities are willing to go to crush dissent".

Pezeshkian has ordered his interior minister to investigate "thoroughly, comprehensively and expertly" what happened in Ilam province, according to the presidential website.

With tensions continuing in the area, a policeman was shot dead Tuesday after being "directly hit by rioters' bullet" in Malekshahi, the Fars news agency said.

IHR said Iranian authorities also raided a hospital in the Hasanabad district of Tehran Tuesday, firing tear gas.

The Iranian currency meanwhile fell in value to approximately 1.47 million rials to the dollar, according to the informal black market rate and several currency monitoring websites.

On December 28, a previous low in the rial -- then at 1.43 million to the dollar -- had driven traders into the streets and sparked the protest movement.