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A member of Iran’s security forces was killed during a fourth day of protests in the country, which have been sparked by a currency collapse, the semi-official Fars news agency has reported.<\/p>\n
Citing regional official Said Pourali, Fars said the incident happened in the city of Kouhdasht, in the western Lorestan province, adding that a number of members of the security forces were also injured.<\/p>\n
Footage verified by BBC Persian appears to show security forces firing at protesters in the city on the same day.<\/p>\n
Confrontations were also reported in the southern province of Fars and the western provinces of Hamedan and Lorestan on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The authorities in the capital, Tehran, had declared Wednesday a bank holiday – in an apparent effort to quell the unrest, which started in the capital on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Fars report said a 21-year-old member of the Basij – a paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – was killed during a confrontation in the city of Kouhdasht. Thirteen police officers and Basij members had been injured by stone throwing, the report said. <\/p>\n
Unrest broke out in other cities too.<\/p>\n
In the southern province of Fars, protesters tried to break into a local government building, with officials reporting three police officers injured and four people arrested in the city of Fasa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In video that emerged on social media and verified by the BBC, a crowd is filmed breaking the gate of the governor’s office in the city.<\/b><\/p>\n
Then, in another post, security men are seen shooting in response. Clouds of tear gas rise in front of shuttered shops.<\/p>\n
Across the country, schools, universities and public institutions were closed because of the last-minute public holiday announced by the Iranian government.<\/p>\n
It was ostensibly to save energy because of the cold weather, though it was seen by many Iranians as an attempt to contain the protests.<\/p>\n
They began in Tehran – among shopkeepers angered by another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the US dollar on the open market.<\/p>\n
By Tuesday, university students were involved and they had spread to several cities, with people chanting against the country’s clerical rulers.<\/p>\n
The protests have been the most widespread since an uprising in 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was accused by morality police of not wearing her veil properly. But they have not been on the same scale.<\/p>\n
To prevent any escalation, tight security is now reported in the areas of Tehran where the demonstrations began.<\/p>\n
President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his government will listen to the “legitimate demands” of the protesters.<\/p>\n
But the prosecutor general, Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, has also warned that any attempt to create instability would be met with what he called a “decisive response”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n