Iran’s Civil Defense Chief: Organized Anti-Revolutionary Groups Present in Riots

“The presence of organized anti-revolutionary groups in recent gatherings could be seen very clearly. Which protestor would go to a protest rally while fully equipped with tools to unscrew light poles and guardrails and to manace citizens with cold weapons and firearms to force them to join the riots,” General Jalali said on Monday.

He added that destruction of public properties and plundering the stores and banks is not called civil protest, stressing that security of the people is the Islamic Republic’s redline.

General Jalali also said that the social media based in foreign states have in the past few years paved the ground for terrorist moves and riots in Iran.

He, meantime, said that although people might be angry at certain officials’ undigested moves, the protests are an internal matter which would not last long or cause deep wounds.

Riots by a small number who have taken advantage of legitimate public protests against the government’s gas price hike plan in Iran are 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 have taken part in protest rallies and gatherings since Friday night, mostly (over 93%) men. A large number of protesters have 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 shows 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 has 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 have been arrested across the country while over 100 banks and 57 big stores have been 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.

It added that the intelligence ministry will decisively confront those who foment insecurity and disrupt tranquility of people.

“Certainly, the enemies who have pinned hope on these riots will have no achievements but shame and embarrassment like the past,” the statement underlined.

In relevant remarks earlier today, Spokesman of Law Enforcement Police Brigadier General Ahmad Nourian announced that the police forces will not allow insecurity and disruption of the general order during the protest rallies against the gasoline rationing.

“The Law Enforcement Police will act upon its natural and legal duty and will not compromise those who disrupt the order and security and will identify and confront the ringleaders and their field agents,” General Nourian said on Sunday.

He referred to the Friday and Saturday rallies to protest at the hike in prices and rationing of gasoline in Iran that in some cases turned violent, and said the police will act upon its responsibilities to restore tranquility and security based on people’s demands.