Horror as Iran opens fire on families in indiscriminate bloodshed | World | News

Eyewitnesses to the Iranian protests have claimed security forces fired at children, women and the elderly. They said demonstrators have been shot and killed in the capital Tehran with bodies “disappearing from hospitals”.

Shocked witnesses have told how authorities fired on “everyone indiscriminately” not caring if they hit “women, men, children or the elderly”. The protests, over Iran’s deepening economic and labour crises under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have reportedly led to the deaths of at least 6,000 people since late December.

Protesters have claimed tear gas and chemicals were used to disperse crowds of demonstrators, with live ammunition, pellet guns and paintball guns also used. A 30-year-old musician from Tehran said “everyone was happy” when the protests began in the hope they might succeed. She said many people responded to a call to action from the Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in America. His father the Shah was deposed in the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

She said: “When Reza Pahlavi called for peaceful protest, the youngest people in the family, a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy, said that they would join. So, the other family members decided to go with them. On the night of the call, they decided to go to a protest in another district, thinking it might be safer. They chose a district in northern Tehran that was far from their own.

“When they got there, they saw many families who had heeded the call together.

“But the repressive forces began to shoot at people with weapons of war.

“They were shooting directly at heads, not legs, and didn’t hesitate to shoot at women and the young, even juveniles or kids. Many people died on the spot.”

She added that those who escaped the bullets now feel “useless” because “they are not in prison or are still alive”.

A 19-year-old woman, who lives in central Tehran, joined the protests on January 8. She said: “Tear gas and smoke filled the air. The crowd had turned into a flood.

“Suddenly, from an upper street came the sound of intense, sustained gunfire, and a huge wave of people ran towards us. Out of fear of being shot, my sister and I ran too until we reached an intersection. We stopped there and continued chanting.

“Then, suddenly, forces closed in from multiple directions, including behind us, firing heavily. It was unbelievable!

“I saw people shot in the legs, blood pouring out, while others tried to bandage their wounds or help them escape.

“Two of our friends were shot. One was hit with pellets and still has them lodged in the back of his legs and body.”

A 27-year-old shop assistant who took part in the demonstrations said: “There were women and even elderly individuals walking with canes or walkers.

“When the repression forces attacked, they targeted everyone indiscriminately.

“It didn’t matter whether you were a woman, man, child or elderly person.

“My friend’s brother was killed in eastern Tehran. A bullet hit his head while his sister and girlfriend were with him. The bullet was fired directly at him by the security forces.

“His body disappeared at the hospital, and the next morning his family identified it at Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Centre.”