Tens of chain stores destroyed, plundered by rioters in Iran

Nearly 80 chain stores in Iran have been ransacked and destroyed from 50% to 100% by ‎the rioters who misused people’s peaceful protests against the government’s gasoline price ‎hike plan.‎

News ID: 447716

Date: 20 November 2019 - 20:47

RNA – 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 Hassan Abad.‎

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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