The severe cold in Iran is causing people to scramble to find fuel to heat their homes- fuel that is in short supply in one of the leading oil producing countries. (ISNA)
In Qaemshahr, Iran on Friday the people had had enough.
Furious Iranians torched their town hall and chanted anti-regime slogans in northern Iran.
Iran Focus reported:
Angry residents of Qaemshahr, in Iran’s northern coastal province of Mazandaran, attacked and set fire to the town hall this afternoon, locals told Iran Focus by telephone.
Protestors were angry that authorities had failed to provide basic services to counter the recent disruption in gas supply which provides for much of the city’s heating during the winter cold.
“For two weeks, the gas has been cut off in my home. My children have caught a cold, and I don’t have the means to see to their needs”, said a working-class protestor present at the standoff outside the compound housing provincial officials.
He told Iran Focus that residents gathered outside the town hall at 14:00 local time and began to chant anti-government slogans. Soon after, the angry protestors attacked the building and set parts of it ablaze. The protest rapidly grew in size and lasted for several hours.
The regime sent in militiamen from Babol to break up the rioting.
Daneshjoo.org reported:
Clashes occured, today, in the northern cities of Ghaem-Shahr and Sari, near the Caspian Sea, due to shortage of heating gas.
Angry mobs set several official buildings ablaze, and clashed with brutal militiamen sent from Babol in order to disperse the crowd.
Slogans against the Islamic regime were shouted, by angry residents, and reports are stating about tens of injured or arrested.
Officials, sent in rush, have tried to calm the residents, but the situation is tense, and road blocks have been installed in order to try to control the situation.