IRAN SEES NEW PROTESTS AS HOSPITALS RAIDED AND INTERNET ACCESS CUT. (PHOTO).

 Iran sees new protests as hospitals raided and internet access cut

At least 36 protesters have been killed in Iran, and more than 2,000 others have been detained as nationwide demonstrations entered their twelfth consecutive day, according to human rights monitors. Protests have erupted in over 100 cities and towns, with demonstrators demanding systemic change and greater freedoms in the largest wave of unrest since the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in 2022 and 2023, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Protesters have used slogans calling for the regime’s downfall and broader reforms to reclaim basic rights and dignity.

The unrest intensified after exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged citizens to gather and chant slogans Thursday and Friday evenings, promising further calls to action based on the response. Authorities responded by cutting internet and telephone access across the country. What began as protests over soaring inflation in Tehran has grown into a broader movement, with demonstrators chanting “death to dictator” and “death to Khamenei.” Groups of students, women, and ethnic minorities, including Kurdish and Turkish communities, have joined the demonstrations. In one of the protest hotspots, the western city of Ilam, security forces raided a hospital treating injured protesters, reportedly removing some of the injured and attempting to take the bodies of those killed. International human rights groups and the U.S. State Department condemned the raid as a violation of humanitarian norms. In response to the unrest, the Iranian government announced a cash handout of 10 million rials—less than $7—to residents to buy basic food items, a measure widely mocked by protesters as inadequate.