A member of Iran’s parliament (or Majles), Ghasem Mirzaei Niku, has said that recent protests over the government’s tripling of fuel prices, which erupted in more than 500 locations around Iran, have left more than 130 people dead.
The parliamentary reporter Farzaneh Aeini published the news, quoting the Damavand MP, on her Twitter page.
Niku did not disclose the number of people who had been detained during the protests.
Reports from Amnesty International say that at least 115 people have been killed and more than 5,000 were arrested since the fuel price increase more than a week ago. But government officials have yet to announce the casualty figures or the arrests.
The widespread scale of the protests also prompted the government to shut down the internet for several days after the protests began on November 15 – with connection only gradually returning to Iran at the end of last week.
Iran’s security forces also attempted to suppress the protests with unprecedented levels of violence and retaliation.
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