Iranian Protesters Again Targeted By Live Fire

Iranian security forces again clashed with protesters across Iran as new rallies calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic spread across the country after Friday prayer.

Videos obtained by IranWire show security forces shooting at protesters gathered around Makki Grand Mosque in the eastern city of Zahedan. One video purported to show a boy who was shot in the head, while activists said up to two people may have been killed in the shooting.

Sources told IranWire that special forces accompanied by dozens of armored vehicles had arrived in the city in the morning while drones were flying over the city.

In the west, security forces opened fire at protesters in the Kurdish cities of Baneh and Mahabad, a day after clashes claimed at least five lives there.

Meanwhile, online monitor NetBlocks said Internet connectivity “has been disrupted regionally in #Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, #Iran.”

Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province, was the scene of a violent crackdown on September 30 in which security forces killed 92 people, including 12 children, according to IranWire sources. Four security forces were also killed that day, dubbed Zahedan’s Black Friday.

The incident -- the deadliest in the nationwide unrest triggered by the September 16 death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of morality police -- followed days of angry rallies over the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a police officer.

Sistan and Baluchistan is one of poorest provinces in predominantly Shia Iran and home to a Baluch minority estimated to number up to 2 million people.

Overall, at least 234 people, including 29 children, have been killed in the brutal crackdown by security services on the nationwide protest movement sparked by Amini's death, one human rights organization said.

Several thousand people have been arrested, including at least 46 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, making it difficult for local reporters to cover the ongoing unrest.

In a statement late on October 27, Amnesty International said "unlawful killings" by Iran's security forces had claimed the lives of at least eight people in four provinces within 24 hours.

“The Iranian authorities’ reckless and unlawful use of firearms against protesters, including live ammunition, reveals yet again the tragically high cost of international inaction,” the London-based human rights group said, urging member states of the UN Human Rights Council to immediately convene a special session on Iran.

“Failure to act decisively will only embolden the Iranian authorities to further crackdown against mourners and protesters set to gather in the coming days during commemorations marking 40 days since the first deaths of protesters after the deadly repression began in mid-September,” it said.