Activists claim that protesters set fire to the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s ancestral house in Iran, videos that have surfaced on social media.
A news agency confirmed the location of two video clips by matching file photos to characteristic arches and buildings.
Although a small group of people had gathered outside Khomeini’s residence, the semi-official Tasnim news agency denied that the house had been set on fire.
Several individuals can be seen cheering in the social media footage as a building catches fire in a flash.
The event took place on Thursday night in Khomein, south of Tehran, according to activist network 1500Tasvir. Khomeini was born there. A museum had been created from the home.
The report is incorrect, according to Tasnim. “The public is welcome to enter the doors of the late creator of the great revolution.”
In 1989, Khomeini died.
Since Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini passed away in September while being held by Iran’s morality police, his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been under strong pressure from widespread rallies demanding for an end to strict clerical rule.
Several cities in Sistan-Baluchistan province were allegedly depicted in separate videos posted by 1500Tasvir, including the capital Zahedan, where demonstrators hollered “Death to Khamenei,” and Chabahar, where protesters tore down and trampled the sign for an avenue named after Ayatollah Khomeini.
According to state media, officials performed a burial service for seven persons who were murdered in what was described as a terrorist attack in the city of Izeh in the southwest.
However, the mother of a 10-year-old victim, Kian Pirfalak, was heard blaming security officers for her son’s shooting in social media recordings.
In a social media video that appeared to be from Pirfalak’s funeral, protesters could be heard yelling, “Khamenei, we will bury you.”
Tasnim reported pro-government protesters in Mashhad, a northeastern city where two Basij militia members were killed on Thursday.
In videos posted on social media, riot police were seen approaching mourners at the burial of Aylar Haghi, a medical student who was reportedly slain by security forces during protests in the northwest Iranian city of Tabriz. Authorities say she died after falling into a construction site excavation.
Protests continued late Friday in many Kurdish-populated northwest cities and villages, including Piranshahr, where demonstrators occupied a police station, according to a video uploaded by human rights group Hengaw. The clip could not be verified.
According to the Revolutionary Guards’ news site, two intelligence agents were killed in clashes with protestors on Thursday night.
On Thursday, three more Revolutionary Guards and a Basij member were killed in Tehran, and one Basiji and one police officer were killed in Kurdistan.
