Hundreds of thousands of government supporters rallied across Iran on Wednesday, swearing allegiance to the Islamic Republic and the Leader and voicing opposition and condemnation of the recent riots. RNA – People from different walks of life took part in the demonstrations, chanting slogans against the rioters who “misused the recent peaceful rallies to protest at the government decision to ration gasoline.”
People in Golestan, Ardabil, Hamadan, Markazi, Gilan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kerman and Ilam provinces poured to the streets on Wednesday to stress support for the establishment and Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and voice opposition to the rioters and enemies.
The demonstrators shouted slogans, including ‘death to the US’, ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to the hypocrites’ - a term used by Iranians to refer to the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as MEK, NCR, NCRI and PMOI) terrorist organization.
They also carried placards, demanding the government to increase efforts to control prices of other goods after the decision to ration and increase the price of gasoline.
In a relevant development on Tuesday and Monday, Iranian people in the two Northwestern cities of Tabriz and Zanjan had also held rallies to stress support for the Leader and the Islamic Republic and condemn riots and saboteurs who have destroyed the public and private properties in the past few days.
A large number of people in Tabriz poured to the streets on Tuesday morning to support the Islamic Republic’s security and might.
They chanted slogans, including ‘Protest is the right of every man, riot is the enemy’s job’ and ‘the only way towards freedom is obedience to the Leader’.
Also, people in Zanjan city staged rallies on Monday afternoon to support the Leader and show opposition to the rioters.
The ralliers, meantime, called on the government to take effective steps to control prices of different goods.
Nearly 80 chain stores in Iran were ransacked and destroyed from 50% to 100% by the rioters.
Reports from different parts of the country said that the rioters first plundered the goods in the chain stores and then set fire on the stores. Yet, in some cases, the stores and all the goods and products have been set on fire.
Most of the damaged chain stores are located in the towns near Tehran, including Marlik, Parand, Shahriar, Robat Karim, Fardis, Malard, Qods, Varamin and Hasanabad.
Also, a chain store in the Eastern part of Tehran city and several other stores in Isfahan, Alborz, Sanandaj and Kermanshah were destroyed and looted.
Initial estimates indicate that the chain stores that have come under attack have sustained a sum of nearly 170 billion tomans (approximately $17 million) of damage.
A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that thugs arrested during the recent riots confessed that they received $60 for each place set on fire.
“One such instance pertains to a number of thugs arrested in one of the provinces who were given an advance payment of 300,000 tomans (nearly $30) to stage an arson attack and another 300,000 tomans once they did the mission,” Commander of Hamadan province’s Law Enforcement Police Brigadier General Bakhsh Ali Kamrani-Saleh said.
He underlined the necessity for increasing vigilance so that people’s righteous demands will not be misused by the rioters.
Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholam-Hoseyn Esmaili announced on Tuesday that calm had been restored to the country after the recent riots that started following the government’s gas price hike plan.
“Thanks to the Leader’s remarks, efforts by the security and Law Enforcement Police forces and people’s vigilance who separated their way from the ill-wishers and violence-seekers, calm has been restored in the country,” Esmaili told reporters in Tehran.
“A large number of saboteurs and rioters and those who set fire at public properties and played a role in the destructions have been identified,” he added.
Riots by a small number who had taken advantage of legitimate public protests against the government’s gas price hike plan in Iran were directed at sowing chaos through targeted attacks on public and private properties, forcing law enforcement to step in to stop saboteurs.
Early estimates of an intelligence body showed that a sum of nearly 87,000 protesters and rioters had taken part in protest rallies and gatherings since Friday night, mostly (over 93%) men. A large number of protesters had only been present in the gathering centers and avoided joining the rioters in sabotage attacks on public and private properties.
“The identical methods of the main core of violent rioters discloses that they are fully trained individuals who have been prepared and looking forward for the situation to rise, unlike most people who have been taken off guard by the sudden hike in gas price,” the report said.
The report showed that gatherings have been comprised of 50 to 1,500 people held in 100 regions of the country out of a number of 1,080 major towns and cities. The report says violent raids and damage inflicted on properties has been larger than what happened in February 2018 unrests.
Most cases of damage to properties had happened in Khuzestan, Tehran, Fars and Kerman provinces. The report says most casualties have resulted from armed outlaws’ attacks on oil storage and military centers, adding that a number of police and popular forces have been martyred in these attacks.
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across the country while over 100 banks and 57 big stores were set on fire or plundered in just one province.
The Iranian intelligence ministry announced in a statement on Sunday that it had identified several rioters who misused the recent protest rallies against the gasoline price hikes to destroy public and private properties.
“The main culprits behind the riots in the past two days have been identified and proper measures are being adopted and the honorable nation will be informed about its result later,” the statement said.
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