Iran’s Sunni Leader Accuses Regime Snipers of Shooting at Demonstrators

A protester shows a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration to support Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of the young woman in police custody, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 in Paris. (AP)
A protester shows a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration to support Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of the young woman in police custody, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 in Paris. (AP)
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Iran’s Sunni Leader Accuses Regime Snipers of Shooting at Demonstrators

A protester shows a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration to support Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of the young woman in police custody, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 in Paris. (AP)
A protester shows a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration to support Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of the young woman in police custody, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 in Paris. (AP)

Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, Iran's Sunni leader, accused security forces of targeting demonstrators by deploying snipers to rallies in Zahedan city.

In an Instagram message, he said “special Revolutionary Guard forces have fired at youth and teenagers on Friday.”

“Government forces responded by firing live bullets at young men who threw stones at a police station,” noted Ismaeelzahi.

“Most of the bullets were fired at the heads and hearts of the worshipers, and it was clear that it was the work of snipers,” he added.

Ismaeelzahi condemned what happened as a “disaster” and a “great injustice.”

“Security forces officers in plain clothes shot at people who were making their way back home,” he revealed.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets over the last two weeks to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran's morality police in the capital of Tehran for allegedly not adhering to Iran's strict Islamic dress code.

On Saturday, Iran’s Tasnim news agency accused the Baluch opposition Jaish Al-Adl organization of being behind the attack on a police station.

Ali Mousavi, a Revolutionary Guard intelligence chief in the Sistan and Baluchistan province, was shot during the clashes on Friday and pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Baloch Activists Campaign said at least 56 people have died in Zahedan, the capital of the Sistan and Baluchistan province.

In a statement, the Campaign also revealed that 300 individuals were wounded in the clashes that authorities blamed on “separatist groups.”

Local media in the province reported that the protests continued despite the authorities cutting the internet in the area.

Iranian media reported that 20 civilians and five members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij forces were killed on Friday.

In turn, a non-governmental organization called “Human Rights of Iran” accused security forces of carrying out “bloody repression” against a demonstration that took place after Friday prayers in Zahedan.

According to the human rights group, the protest was triggered by reports of a police chief raping a 15-year-old girl from the Sunni Baluch minority in Chabahar.



Moroccan Community Calls for Calm after Anti-migrant Clashes in Spanish Town

A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
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Moroccan Community Calls for Calm after Anti-migrant Clashes in Spanish Town

A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Moroccan community leaders in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco called for calm following four nights of clashes between North African migrants and the far-right, in some of the worst such unrest in the country in recent times.

Police have detained at least 14 people so far over the clashes that flared up on Friday after an attack last week on a local man in his 60s.

Far-right groups have called for anti-migrant protests on Tuesday and over 120 Civil Guard officers have been deployed to maintain security in the town, a government spokesperson for the region said, Reuters reported.

Authorities said three Moroccan citizens suspected of involvement in the assault have been apprehended, including a 19-year-old alleged to be the main perpetrator. He was detained on Monday evening in northern Spain on assault and battery charges.

A spokesperson for the central government's office in the Murcia region said none of the suspects lived in Torre Pacheco.

After xenophobic messages on social media to "hunt down" residents of North African origin, leaders of the local Moroccan community urged calm and advised younger members to remain in their homes after dozens took to the streets over the weekend and on Monday, clashing with far-right groups and police.

"We want peace ... We don't want criminals, we don't want violence or people who come from outside to make trouble here," Abdelali, an informal spokesperson for the Moroccan community who has lived in the town for 25 years, told reporters.

Police arrested three people overnight after a confrontation with dozens of young men in the San Antonio neighbourhood, home to a majority of the town's first- and second generation migrants who represent nearly a third of the town's population of 40,000, according to local government data.

Reuters footage showed some of the protesters, mostly masked, lobbing fireworks at officers clad in riot gear, who responded by firing rubber bullets.

HATE CRIMES INVESTIGATION

Spain's top hate crimes prosecutor, Miguel Angel Aguilar, told SER radio on Tuesday that his office was investigating the events in Torre Pacheco, as well as social media messages inciting violence towards migrants.

He also confirmed regional prosecutors were looking at statements by the leader of far-right party Vox in Murcia, Jose Angel Antelo, who is accused by Spain's ruling Socialist Party of linking immigration to criminality in speeches, media appearances and posts on X.

Late on Monday, the messaging app Telegram shuttered a channel named "DeportThemNowSpain" for "inciting violence".

Reuters reviewed dozens of messages in the channel that included expletive-laden calls to attack Moroccans residing in Torre Pacheco or set fire to their homes.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said police in Mataro, near Barcelona, had arrested an unnamed leader of supremacist movement "Deport Them Now Europe" suspected of inciting hatred and seized two computers.