Sistan and Baluchestan police chief: Scores of rioters detained in Zahedan

The police chief in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan says at least 57 rioters who threw rocks, attacked banks, and shattered windows after Friday prayers in the provincial capital Zahedan to repeat the violent scenes three weeks ago, have been arrested.

General Ahmad Taheri said between a hundred and 150 ‘rioters’ and ‘thugs’ chanted slogans and pelted stones at the stores and cars and vandalized banks after the congregation prayers, but the police intervened in time and arrested the ringleaders and agent provocateurs.

Iranian state TV put the number of protesters who took to the streets in Zahedan at about 300, with rampant scenes of smashed windows.

The protest came three weeks after a riot and shooting incident in the city which, authorities say, left many people dead.

The September 16 death of a 22-year-old Iranian woman, named Mahsa Amini, in a police station in the capital Tehran, triggered a wave of protests and deadly riots in several Iranian cities.

Official reports by the police and forensic organization said her death was related to underlying medical conditions, rejecting previous speculations that she died after being beaten up by the morality police.

Iranian officials have said ordinary people who are duped into violent protests should be treated with Islamic leniency but the orchestrators and organizers of the deadly incidents should not be spared.

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