A huge fire blazed Saturday at a notorious prison where political prisoners and anti-government activists are kept in the Iranian capital, injuring at least nine people, according to state media. Online videos and local media reported gunshots, as nationwide protests entered a fifth week.
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Iran's state-run IRNA reported there were clashes between prisoners in one ward and prison personnel, citing a senior security official. The official said prisoners set fire to a warehouse full of prison uniforms, which caused the blaze. He said the "rioters" were separated from the other prisoners to de-escalate the conflict.
The official said that the "situation is completely under control" and that firefighters were extinguishing the flames. Later, Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi said that "peace" had returned to the prison and that the unrest was not related to the protests which have swept the country for four weeks.
Video: Marchers near Iran's notorious Evin prison, after fire breaks out / Reuters
IRNA later reported nine people had been injured, without elaborating. It published video showing burnt debris scattered around a building, with firefighters spraying down the blaze's embers.
Footage of the fire circulated online. Videos showed shots ringing out as plumes of smoke rose into the sky amid the sound of an alarm. A protest broke out on the street soon after, with many chanting "Death to the Dictator!" – a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and burning tires, circulating videos showed.
Witnesses said that police blocked roads and highways to Evin prison and that at least three strong explosions were heard coming from the area. Traffic was heavy along major motorways near the prison, which is in the north of the capital, and many people honked to show their solidarity with protests.
Riot police were seen riding on motorbikes toward the facility, as were ambulances and firetrucks. Witnesses reported that the internet was blocked in the area. The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran reported that an "armed conflict" broke out within the prison walls. It said shots were first heard in Ward 7 of the prison. This account could not immediately be corroborated.
The prison fire occurred as protesters intensified anti-government demonstrations along main streets and at universities in some cities across Iran on Saturday. Human rights monitors reported hundreds dead, including children, as the movement concluded its fourth week.
Demonstrators also chanted "Down with the Dictator" on the streets of Ardabil in the country's northwest. Outside of universities in Kermanshah, Rasht and Tehran, students rallied, according to videos on social media. In the city of Sanandaj, a hotspot for demonstrations in the northern Kurdish region, school girls chanted, "Woman, life, freedom," down a central street.
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday he was surprised by the courage of the people taking to the streets in protest in Iran. Biden, speaking in Portland after campaigning for a fellow Democrat in Oregon's race for governor, was commenting on the weeks of unrest in Iran since a young woman was killed in police custody.
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