Protesters attack religious school near Tehran: Iranian media

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iranian protesters have attacked a religious school in Alborz Province’s Karaj city outside Tehran, Iran’s conservative Fars news agency reported on Saturday as demonstrations spread in the country ahead of renewed US sanctions.

“At 9 pm, they attacked the school and tried to break the doors down and burn things,” the school's director, Hojatoleslam Hindiani, was quoted as saying by the Iranian agency and later reported by AFP.

“They were about 500 people, and they chanted against the system, but they were dispersed by the riot police and some have been arrested," he added. “These people came with rocks and broke the sign and all the windows of the prayer house, and they were chanting against the system.”

Iranian authorities have barely mentioned days of protests in the major cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, and Tehran which, according to AFP, were sparked by concerns over the country’s economy and wider concern over the political system.

In past demonstrations, the country’s conservative news agencies have repeatedly covered attacks against sensitive symbols such as religious sites and buildings as a way to justify counter-actions against the protesters.

Videos circulated on the social media networks in recent days have shown people pouring onto the streets in several cities and chanting various extreme slogans, including “death to the dictator.”

Iranian authorities have labeled the protests as being masterminded by foreign-based opposition groups funded by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Foreign media in the country are barred from filming and reporting “unauthorized” protests.

The videos posted on social media show that the recent protests are far from the scale witnessed in Iran in December and January in which at least 25 people were killed and that spread to multiple cities and towns across the country.

Editing by John J. Catherine