Crowd confronts cleric at Iran tower collapse that killed 33
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protesters angry over a building collapse in southwestern Iran that killed at least 33 people shouted down an emissary sent by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking a crackdown in which riot police clubbed demonstrators and fired tear gas, according to online videos analyzed on Monday.
The demonstration directly challenged the Iranian government's response to the disaster a week ago as pressure rises in the Islamic Republic over rising food prices and other economic woes amid the unravelling of its nuclear deal with world powers.
While the protests so far still appear to be leaderless, even Arab tribes in the region seemed to join them Sunday, raising the risk of the unrest intensifying. Already, tensions between Tehran and the West have spiked after Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Friday seized two Greek oil tankers seized at sea.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari AleKasir tried to address upset mourners near the site of the 10-story Metropol Building, but hundreds gathered Sunday night instead booed and shouted.
Surrounded by bodyguards, the ayatollah, in his 60s, tried to continue but couldn't.
“What's happening?” the cleric stage-whispered to a bodyguard, who then leaned in to tell him something.
The cleric then tried to address the crowd again: “My dears, please keep calm, as a sign of respect to Abadan, its martyrs and the dear (victims) the whole Iranian nation is mourning tonight.”
The crowd responded by shouting: “Shameless!”
A live broadcast of the event on state television then cut out. Demonstrators later chanted: “I will kill; I will kill the one who killed my brother!”
The Tehran-based daily newspaper Hamshahri and the semiofficial Fars news agency said the protesters attacked the platform where state TV...
