PARIS, France (AFP) — Iranians took to the streets in new protests against the clerical authorities overnight despite an internet shutdown, as rights groups warned on Sunday that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.
At least 192 people have been killed in two weeks of protests against the government and economic strain in Iran, a rights group said on Sunday, in a sharp rise from an earlier death toll of 51.
“Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters,” the Norway-based non-government organization said, warning that the toll could be much higher as a days-long internet blackout hampered verification.
Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by Agence France-Presse, allegedly showed relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown.
The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 116 people in connection with the protests, including 37 members of the security forces or other officials.
But activists warned that the Internet shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher.
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown.”