Iran protests: Revolutionary Guards chief warns ‘today is the last day of demonstrations’ after ‘two more killed’ in Zahedan
The commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards has warned protesters not to leave their homes to demonstrate and that Saturday will be the “last day” of taking to the streets.
“Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots,” Hossein Salami said.
His ominous warning comes amid reports that two people were killed after Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters in a southeastern city, on Friday.
Nationwide demonstrations have been taking place, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month, after being detained for alleged violations of the country’s strict dress code.
The city of Zahedan, located in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan on the Gulf of Oman, has seen the deadliest violence so far in the weeks of protests, which passed 40 days last week.
On Friday, soldiers surrounded a key Sunni mosque in an area of Zahedan where residents rallied against the Iranian government, while also shooting at demonstrators, activists said.
Videos from the advocacy group HalVash showed demonstrators chanting: “Death to the Basiji”, a reference to the volunteer forces of the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is answerable only to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Footage also appeared to show the use of tear gas and what looked like spent rifle cartridges on the street, later showing streaks of blood on tilework and bloody palm prints in the Zahedan’s Makki Grand Mosque courtyard, with activists saying they feared two people had been killed.
“Police officers, please open the way for worshippers,” a voice over the mosque’s loudspeakers pleaded at one point. “Don’t cause (trouble) so that people can return to their homes.”
The internet advocacy group NetBlocks said they believed online access had been disrupted in the city.
Mahsa Amini. Pic: Center for Human Rights in Iran
State television in an online report said one person had been killed in Zahedan and 14 others wounded. It did not say who was behind the shooting.
The United Nations on Friday condemned “all incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to protesters” in Iran and reiterated “that security forces must avoid all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “Those responsible must be held to account,” adding that the UN was urging Tehran “to address the legitimate grievances of the population, including with respect to women’s rights”.
Demonstrations in Zahedan, calling for change, erupted in part over a rape allegation against a senior police officer there.
Activists estimate that nearly 100 people have been killed in Zahedan alone since a rally on 30 September in the city set off a violent police response.
The state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement by Sistan and Baluchestan’s security council issued earlier on Friday saying that the police chief in Zahedan and another police official have been sacked over their handling of the protest on 30 September.
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The statement for the first time acknowledged that police shot and killed people praying at the time at a nearby mosque.
The security council’s version of the demonstration alleged that 150 people, including armed men, attacked a police station and attempted to take it over during the protests.
The “armed conflict, and police shooting, unfortunately, led to the wounding and killing of a number of worshippers and innocent passers-by who had no role in the unrest”, it said.
However, the statement claimed that only 35 people were killed, while activists estimate about three times that number were killed by security forces, who also allegedly fired on protesters from helicopters.
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Mass protests and government buildings attacked – online evidence shows what’s happening in Iran
The country has a theocratic government, meaning its ruling systems are based on religious laws and precepts.
The protests have become the greatest threat to the Iranian government since the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations. International pressure is also being applied to the government, over its treatment of protesters.
Demonstrations have evolved from focusing on women’s rights and the state-mandated headscarf, to calls to oust Shiite clerics who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The demonstrations have involved over 125 cities; at least 270 people have been killed and nearly 14,000 have been arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.
World
Amsterdam: Police break up pro-Palestinian protest after ‘antisemitic’ violence following football game
More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters have been taken away by police during a banned demonstration in Amsterdam following “antisemitic” violence in the wake of a football game.
Hundreds of people had defied an order banning protests and gathered in the city’s Dam Square on Sunday, chanting “Amsterdam says no to genocide” and “free Palestine”.
A three-day ban on demonstrations was brought in on Friday, following violence that erupted on Thursday after a Europa League game between Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv and local side Ajax.
The ban was later extended for four more days until next Thursday.
Explained: What we know about violence in Amsterdam
Police crouched over a man during the pro-Palestinian protest. Pic: Reuters
Hundreds of people defied the order and gathered in Amsterdam. Pic: Reuters
The aftermath of the football game was marred by violence that the mayor of the Dutch city and the country’s prime minister described as antisemitic.
At a hearing challenging the protest ban, a senior police officer said it was still needed as people thought to be Jewish were targeted on Saturday night, with some being ordered out of taxis and others asked to produce their passports.
A local court ratified the ban and the people who were rounded up were put on buses and dropped off on the outskirts of the city, police spokesperson Ramona van den Ochtend said, without confirming how many had been detained.
One protester was taken to an ambulance bleeding.
After the initial violence, five people were treated in hospital and more than 60 were held by police.
The attacks followed a Palestinian flag being torn down in the Dutch city, and another being set on fire, before Maccabi Tel Aviv fans shouted anti-Arab chants as they were escorted to the game.
The initial attacks on Israeli fans were carried out by what Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema described as “hit-and-run squads”.
Prosecutors said that four suspects remained detained, including two minors, and 40 people have been fined.
Police broke up the pro-Palestinian protest in Dam Square. Pic: Reuters
Dutch police detain a pro-Palestinian protester during the banned demonstration. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
A night that ‘defied description’
Tensions began to build the day before the match when some of the 3,000 visiting Maccabi supporters had minor altercations with locals, including taxi drivers and Ajax supporters, police said.
According to officers, on Wednesday a Palestinian flag was set on fire in Dam Square, and another was pulled down from a nearby building as a taxi was also vandalised.
On game day, the Maccabi supporters chanted anti-Arab slogans including “Let the IDF win, and f*** the Arabs,” as they were escorted by police to the stadium.
A planned pro-Palestinian demonstration on Thursday was moved away from the ground to Anton de Komplein square, in an attempt to prevent any clashes, but after the game on Thursday night violence spread in the city.
Attacks broke out and police rounded up and escorted some Maccabi fans back to their hotels.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the violence as “antisemitic” and said it “defied description”.
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A video which was circulated on social media showed a man being chased through the street with the caption “watch and enjoy six Zionists chased away. Free Palestine”.
A statement by Amsterdam police and prosecutors said Thursday evening “was very turbulent, with several incidents of violence aimed at Maccabi supporters”.
They added: “There is no excuse for the antisemitic behaviour exhibited last night [Thursday] by rioters who actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them.”
World
Mackenzie Michalski: Irish man allegedly admits killing US nurse at Budapest flat and dumping body near lake, say police
An Irish man is suspected of killing a 31-year-old US nurse during an “intimate encounter” at his Budapest flat before dumping her body in woodland, according to police.
Hungarian police said Mackenzie Michalski, from Portland in the US state of Oregon, was killed after meeting the 37-year-old man at a nightclub while she was on holiday in the city.
Officers identified the suspect by the initials LTM and said he cleaned up his rented apartment in the Hungarian capital and put Ms Michalski’s body in a wardrobe and then into a suitcase.
He allegedly rented a car and drove 90 miles (150km) to Lake Balaton, where he is said to have disposed of the body in a wooded area near the village of Szigliget.
Police video showed the suspect guiding them to where he left the body.
Officers said he also searched online for how to dispose of a body, and about the competence of Budapest police. Police said he also conducted online searches about procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs eat dead bodies, and if there are wild boars around Lake Balaton.
He was arrested on 7 November but claimed the killing was an accident, police said.
Ms Michalski had been reported missing two days before, and the suspect was identified after CCTV showed the pair together at a nightclub, where police said they danced and left for his flat.
Pic: Facebook/Find Mackenzie Michalski
Crime scene photos show a rolling suitcase, items of clothing and a handbag next to a credit card with Ms Michalski’s name on it.
The victim’s family flew to Hungary to help find her, but on the way found out she had been killed.
“There was no reason for this to happen,” her father Bill Michalski said at a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Saturday night.
“I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened… I don’t know that I ever will.”
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Friends attended a candlelight memorial in the city on Saturday. Pic: AP
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Wearing a cap she had given him, Mr Michalski said his daughter had been to Budapest before and called it her “happy place”.
“The history… she just loved it and she was just so relaxed here,” he said.
A Facebook group set up last week to find Ms Michalski said she was known as “Kenzie” and worked as a nurse.
It said she would “forever be remembered as a beautiful and compassionate young woman”.
Tributes have been paid to a “brave” 22-year-old British man who was killed while fighting in Ukraine.
Callum Tindal-Draper, from Gunnislake, Cornwall, died while serving with the foreign volunteer platoon in the country’s struggle against Russia.
It is believed he was defending an observation point when he was killed on 5 November.
Callum Tindal-Draper. Pic: Handout
Callum’s mother Caroline Tindal said in a post on Facebook that “he fought till he could no longer hold them off any more”.
“His platoon are calling him a ‘hero’ and ‘as brave as they come’,” she said.
“22 is a young age. But you lived and died following your heart, soul and morals.
“May you rest in peace and help watch over those who have passed.”
Mr Tindal-Draper was a former student of Duchy College, in Stoke Climsland, Cornwall.
In a tribute on Facebook, the college’s Military and Protective Services Academy said he was a “model student” with a “strong moral compass”.
“He was a passionate, articulate and bright student, who was keen to learn,” the post said.
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“He was very proud of his family history in the services,” the post added.
“He was well-liked and respected by his peers, and was not one to shy away from causes he believed in and was instrumental in collecting the three minibus loads of humanitarian equipment for civilians that the learners gathered when the war in Ukraine initially kicked off.”
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The post said Mr Tindal-Draper worked for the NHS after finishing the course.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are aware that a British national has reportedly died in Ukraine and stand ready to assist the family in the UK.”
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