DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police dispersed protesters in southwestern Iran angry over the Islamic Republic's anemic economy amid a U.S. sanctions campaign, a news report Friday said, and internet access to the wider region was disrupted as demonstrators shared videos of the rally. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org reported the disruption affecting Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province late Thursday. The outage coincided with videos being published online of protesters gathering in the city of Behbahan, some 570 kilometers (355 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. Those videos showed demonstrators chanting slogans heard at other protests in Iran over the last year, including: “Don't be afraid, we are all together.” Others targeted Iran's foreign policy, shouting: “No Gaza, no Lebanon, I will die for Iran.”

Source: International New York Times July 17, 2020 06:10 UTC