Iran protest death toll rises as alarm grows over crackdown ‘massacre’

At least 192 protesters have been killed in Iran’s  biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, a rights group said Sunday, as warnings grew that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have now become a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution and have already lasted two weeks.The mass rallies are one of the biggest challenges to the rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June, which was backed by the United States. Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks, with activists warning the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher. “Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters,” the Norway-based non-governmental organisation said, warning that the deaths “may be even more extensive than we currently imagine”.Videos of large demonstrations in the capital Tehran and other cities over the past three nights have filtered out despite the internet cut that has rendered impossible normal communication with the outside world via messaging apps or even phone lines. Video verified by AFP showed large crowds taking to the streets in new protests on Saturday night in several Iranian cities including Tehran and Mashhad in the east, where images showed vehicles set on fire. Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by AFP, allegedly showed relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown. The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown”. “A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life,” it said. It said hospitals were “overwhelmed”, blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic. – ‘Significant arrests’ -The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 116 people in connection with the protests, including 37 members of the security forces or other officials. State TV on Sunday broadcast images of funeral processions for security forces killed in recent days, as authorities condemned “riots” and “vandalism”. National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said authorities made “significant” arrests of protest figures on Saturday night, without giving details on the number or identities of those arrested, according to state TV. Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani drew a line between protests over economic hardship, which he called “completely understandable”, and “riots”, accusing them of actions “very similar to the methods of terrorist groups”, Tasnim news agency reported. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said “rioters” must not distrupt Iranian society.”The people (of Iran) should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we (the government) want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.In Tehran, an AFP journalist described a city in a state of near paralysis. The price of meat has nearly doubled since the start of the protests, and while some shops are open, many others are not.Those that do open must close at around 4:00 or 5:00 pm, when security forces deploy in force.- ‘Legitimate targets’ -Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests, called for new actions later Sunday.”Do not abandon the streets. My heart is with you. I know that I will soon be by your side,” he said. US President Donald Trump has spoken out in support of the protests and threatened military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people”. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged the European Union on Sunday to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps as a “terrorist organisation” over the suspected violence against protesters.He also said Israel supports the Iranian people’s “struggle for freedom”.Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would hit back if the US launched military action. “In the event of a military attack by the United States, both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets,” he said in comments broadcast by state TV. He was apparently also referring to Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise and considers occupied Palestinian territory.

Accord UE-Mercosur: barrage filtrant d’agriculteurs au port du Havre

Une centaine d’agriculteurs ont mis en place dimanche un “barrage filtrant” à l’entrée du port du Havre (Seine-Maritime) pour contrôler les camions afin de dénoncer l’accord entre l’UE et le Mercosur sud-américain, qui mobilise ailleurs en France et en Europe.Après la démonstration de force jeudi à Paris de la Coordination rurale, des manifestations ont eu lieu vendredi en Pologne et Italie puis encore samedi en Irlande pour protester contre ce traité entre l’UE, l’Argentine, le Brésil, le Paraguay et l’Uruguay, qui créerait l’une des plus grandes zones de libre-échange au monde, de plus de 700 millions de consommateurs.Au Havre, les agriculteurs ont établi samedi soir un petit camp de base à l’entrée du premier port à conteneurs français pour contrôler “un maximum de produits alimentaires qui entrent et qui sortent”, a expliqué par téléphone Justin Lemaître, secrétaire général des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Seine-Maritime (JA76), un syndicat proche de la première organisation agricole française, la FNSEA.Les militants agricoles entendent bloquer les aliments qui ne respectent pas les normes sanitaires et environnementales imposées aux producteurs français et européens.”On veut être en place pour ce soir, où le trafic va s’intensifier. Demain lundi, on nous annonce 5.000 camions par jour”, a-t-il dit, précisant vouloir “filtrer mais pas bloquer les accès au port du Havre, pour ne pas bloquer totalement l’activité des dockers”.D’autres actions sont en cours ailleurs en France, comme en Savoie, où une cinquantaine d’agriculteurs bloquent depuis jeudi soir le dépôt pétrolier d’Albens, sur la commune d’Entrelacs, a indiqué dimanche la Confédération paysanne, qui précise que “la préfecture menace de nous déloger lundi matin”.Des barrages sont aussi en place sur des axes routiers, sur l’A63 à Bayonne ou l’A64, à Carbonne, au sud de Toulouse, bloquée depuis le 12 décembre par “Les Ultras de l’A64”. La Coordination rurale prépare également une action dimanche soir l’autoroute A1, dans le nord du pays, au niveau du péage de Fresnes-les-Montauban (Pas-de-Calais), a-t-on appris auprès d’un porte-parole.Par ailleurs, à partir de lundi, les locaux de la Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) dans le Tarn-et-Garonne resteront fermés au public pour dénoncer des dégradations commises dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi. Des agriculteurs “ont fracturé des vitres, saccagé des bureaux en épandant du lisier”, a déploré Pierre Marie Senes, directeur adjoint de la Mutualité Sociale Agricole de Montauban, auprès d’un correspondant de l’AFP. Cette mobilisation agricole, lancée il y a un mois contre la gestion gouvernementale de la dermatose nodulaire contagieuse (DNC), a été amplifiée par le feu vert donné vendredi par une majorité de pays européens à l’accord avec le Mercosur, qui doit être signé samedi prochain au Paraguay.Pour ses détracteurs, ce traité va bousculer l’agriculture européenne avec des produits importés d’Amérique latine moins chers et pas forcément respectueux des normes européennes, faute de contrôles suffisants.En supprimant une large part des droits de douane, l’accord favorise les exportations européennes de voitures, de machines, de vins, d’huile d’olive et de produits laitiers, et il facilite l’entrée en Europe de boeuf, de volaille, de sucre, riz, miel, et soja.La ratification du traité dépend encore d’un vote, qui s’annonce serré, au Parlement européen, probablement en février ou en mars. Un grand rassemblement d’agriculteurs est prévu devant son siège strasbourgeois le 20 janvier.bur-ban-elr-kau/gf/as

Venezuelans await release of more political prisoners, Maduro ‘doing well’

Venezuelans were waiting for more political prisoners to be released on Sunday, as ousted president Nicolas Maduro defiantly claimed from his US jail cell that he is “doing fine” after being seized by US forces a week ago.Interim president Delcy Rodriguez has begun to free prisoners jailed under Maduro, saying a “large” number would be released in a gesture of appeasement for which Washington took credit.Rodriguez, vice president under Maduro, said Venezuela would take “the diplomatic route” with the United States, with President Donald Trump claiming it was “in charge” of the South American country.”Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners. Thank you!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday night.”I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done.”Rights groups estimate there are 800 to 1,200 political prisoners held in Venezuela.Maduro and his wife were captured in a dramatic nighttime raid on January 3 that began with air strikes across Caracas. They were taken to New York City by US forces to stand trial on drug-trafficking and weapons charges.- Anxiety over prisoners -Only 21 people had been released by Saturday evening, including several prominent opposition figures, prisoners’ rights groups and the opposition said.A detained police officer accused of “treason” against Venezuela had also died in state custody, the opposition and rights groups said on Saturday.”We directly hold the regime of Delcy Rodriguez responsible for this death,” Primero Justicia (Justice First), which is part of the Venezuelan opposition alliance, said in a statement on X.Anxious relatives have camped outside jails, awaiting the promised release of political prisoners.Families held candlelight vigils outside El Rodeo prison east of Caracas and El Helicoide, a notorious prison run by the intelligence services, displaying signs with the names of their imprisoned relatives.”I am tired and angry,” Nebraska Rivas, 57, told AFP as she waited for her son to be released from El Rodeo.”But I have faith that they will hand him over to us soon,” she said after sleeping on the pavement outside the prison for two nights.- ‘Trust blindly’ -Maduro claimed he was “doing well” in jail in New York, his son Nicolas Maduro Guerra said in a video released by his party on Saturday.Around 1,000 protesters, waving flags and placards with the face of the mustachioed ex-leader and his wife Cilia Flores, rallied in the west of Caracas and a few hundred in the eastern Petare district. “I’ll march as often as I have to until Nicolas and Cilia come back,” said demonstrator Soledad Rodriguez, 69.”I trust blindly that they will come back — they have been kidnapped.”The demonstrations were far smaller than Maduro’s camp had mustered in the past, and top figures from his government were notably absent.Rodriguez was instead seen attending an agricultural fair. She has moved to placate the powerful pro-Maduro base by insisting Venezuela is not “subordinate” to Washington, and vowed in televised comments she would “not rest for a minute until we have our president back.”The other two hardline powers in his government, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, were also not seen at the rallies.- Oil talks -Trump vowed to secure US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves following Maduro’s capture, and Rodriguez has pledged to cooperate.The White House said Trump has signed an emergency order protecting US-held revenues derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, preventing them from being seized by courts or creditors.Trump pressed top oil executives at a White House meeting on Friday to invest in Venezuela’s reserves, but was met with a cautious reception.Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela, through a sanctions exemption.Experts say Venezuela’s oil infrastructure is creaky after years of mismanagement and sanctions.Washington has also confirmed that US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening their embassy there.The Venezuelan government did not respond when asked whether the US officials had met with Rodriguez.The US embassy in Colombia warned on Saturday that “the security situation in Venezuela remains fluid” and advised Americans to leave “immediately” as commercial flights become available.