Iran's Guards head warns protesters: 'Today is last day of riots'
The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned protesters that Saturday (October 29) would be their last day of taking to the streets, in a sign that security forces may intensify their fierce crackdown on unrest sweeping the country.
"Do not come to the streets," Guards commander Hossein Salami said in some of the toughest language used in the crisis, which Iran's clerical leadership blames on its foreign enemies including Israel and the United States.
Iranians have defied such warnings throughout the popular revolt in which women have played a prominent role. There were more reports of fresh bloodshed and renewed protests on Saturday.
Human rights group Hengaw reported security forces shooting students at a girls' school in the city of Saqez. In another post, it said security forces opened fire on students at Kurdistan University of Medical Science, in the Kurdistan provincial capital of Sanandaj.
Several students were injured, one of them shot in the head, Hengaw said. Reuters could not verify this report.
Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police last month, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
Salami was speaking at a funeral of victims killed in an attack this week claimed by Islamic State. He promised revenge for the attack.
