More than 630 people reportedly killed in Iran's petrol price demonstrations

The number of people killed in widespread November protests over fuel price rises in Iran reached at least 631, an opposition website claims.

Iranian protesters gather around a burning motorcycle during a demonstration against an increase in gasoline prices.

Iranian protesters gather around a burning motorcycle during a demonstration against an increase in gasoline prices. Source: AFP

An opposition website said on Thursday that at least 631 people had been killed in Iran during unrest that broke out in November.

The reported toll has varied between a Reuters news agency account of 1,500 dead and an Amnesty International figure of more than 300.

Both figures have been dismissed by Iranian authorities.
Protesters set fire to debris and block the roads in Tehran during a protest against a gasoline price hike.
Protesters set fire to debris and block the roads in Tehran during a protest against a gasoline price hike. Source: Anadolu
"According to the classified official bulletin, at least 631 people were killed during the unrest ... most of them were lower-income people," the Iranian reformist Kaleme website reported.

Hundreds of young and working-class Iranians took to the streets on 15 November to protest against fuel price rises.
The protests turned political, with demonstrators burning pictures of senior officials and calling on clerical rulers to step down.

London-based Amnesty said more than 300 people were killed and thousands were arrested following a crackdown after the unrest, for which Iranian officials have blamed foreign enemies.
An Iranian man checks a scorched gas station that was set ablaze by protesters during a demonstration against a rise in gasoline prices.
An Iranian man checks a scorched gas station that was set ablaze by protesters during a demonstration against a rise in gasoline prices. Source: AFP
Iranian authorities, who have yet to give a death toll, have dismissed Amnesty's figures and a Reuters report that said 1,500 people were killed in less than two weeks after protests erupted.

Tehran said in December that some "rioters" were shot dead by security forces. Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced the unrest as a "very dangerous conspiracy" by Iran's enemies.


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