Demonstrators killed in Iran

Security forces in Iran have reportedly killed at least 115 protesters after a new protest movement erupted last week.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in around 100 towns and cities in Iran after the government announced a huge increase in fuel prices.

Iranians have suffered years of austerity, rising prices and high unemployment in a prolonged financial crisis caused by privatisation, corruption and US?imposed economic sanctions.

Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp, said security forces would put the protests down, claiming that they were instigated by the West.

He later said the protests were organised by “foreign agents,” and “thugs.”

Western governments, led by the US, have hypocritically backed the protests.

Yet its economic sanctions against Iran are a major cause of ordinary people’s poverty and hardship.