Protesters angry over a building collapse in southwestern Iran that killed at least 31 people shouted down an emissary sent by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking a crackdown that saw riot police club demonstrators and fire tear gas, according to online videos analyzed on Monday.
The demonstration directly challenged the Iranian government’s response to the disaster a week ago as pressure rises in the Islamic Republic over rising food prices and other economic woes amid the unraveling of its nuclear deal with world powers.
While the protests so far still appear to be leaderless, even Arab tribes in the region seemed to join them on Sunday, raising the risk of the unrest intensifying.
Already, tensions between Tehran and the West have spiked after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Friday seized two Greek oil tankers.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari AleKasir tried to address upset mourners near the site of the 10-story Metropol Building but hundreds who had gathered Sunday night instead booed and shouted.
Surrounded by bodyguards, the Ayatollah, in his 60s, tried to continue but couldn’t.
“What’s happening?” the cleric stage-whispered to a bodyguard, who then leaned in to tell him something.
The cleric then tried to address the crowd again: “My dears, please keep calm, as a sign of respect to Abadan, its martyrs, and the dear (victims) the whole Iranian nation is mourning tonight.”
The crowd responded by shouting: “Shameless!”
A live broadcast on state television of the event then cut out.
Footage posted online afterwards showed demonstrators later chanting: “I will kill; I will kill the one who killed my brother!”
The Tehran-based daily newspaper Hamshahri and the semiofficial Fars news agency said the protesters attacked the platform where state TV had set up its camera, cutting off its broadcast.
Police ordered the crowd not to chant slogans against the Islamic Republic and then ordered them to leave, calling their rally illegal.
Video later showed officers confronting and clubbing demonstrators as clouds of tear gas rose.
At least one officer fired what appeared to be a shotgun, though it wasn’t clear if it was live fire or so-called “beanbag” rounds designed to stun.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured or if police made any arrests.
The details in the videos corresponded to known features of Abadan, located some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran.
Foreign-based Farsi-language television channels described tear gas and other shots being fired.
Independent newsgathering remains extremely difficult in Iran.
During unrest, Iran has disrupted internet and telephone communications to affected areas, while also limiting the movement of journalists inside of the country.
Following the tower collapse in Abadan last Monday, authorities have acknowledged the building’s owner and corrupt government officials had allowed construction to continue at the Metropol Building despite concerns over its shoddy workmanship.
Authorities have arrested 13 people as part of a broad investigation into the disaster, including the city’s mayor.
Rescue teams pulled two more bodies from the rubble on Monday, bringing the death toll in the collapse to 31, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Authorities fear more people could be trapped under the debris.
