Rallies condemning violent riots roam Sanandaj streets, western Iran

• 

Rallies roamed the city of Sanandaj in the province of Kurdistan, western Iran, condemning the recent riots and in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The participants raised slogans supporting the Iranian security forces and published a statement rejecting the riots and calling on the judicial authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable.

The statement pointed to the Iranian people's adherence to the principles of the Islamic Revolution and its support for its political regime, adding: "We will never allow anyone to insult our sanctities and we will defend our principles until the last drop of our blood."

The participants stressed that national unity and the harmony of all Iranian national components is a red line, rejecting all attempts to stir up sedition.

Massive rallies roamed the streets of a number of Iranian cities Sunday morning in support of the Islamic Republic and in rejection of the riots.

The rallies included several cities such as Mashhad, Shiraz, Qom, Gilan, Bojnurd, Qazvin, Isfahan, and Yasuj.

The pro-Iran rallies come in rejection of the riots, infringement on sanctities and the Holy Quran, and attacks on public property, which took place during the past few days following the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini.

The participants chanted slogans denouncing the US, Britain, and the Israeli occupation, as well as other slogans in support of Iran and condemnation of acts of sabotage.

On Saturday, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that riots went down by 90% all over the country by Friday night, attributing the decrease to pro-government protesters that took to the streets against the ongoing riots.

IRNA cited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as emphasizing the need to distinguish between protest and disturbance of public order and security, stressing the importance of pursuing and dealing decisively with perpetrators.

Mahsa Amini's father: Riots "not for our sake"

On his part, Amjad Amini, the father of the late young woman, had said that his family "have not yet been informed of the results of forensic tests on the causes of their daughter's death."

Amini stressed that "the rallies and demonstrations held in a number of Iranian provinces after Mahsa's death have nothing to do with her family" and "were not for our sake," noting that he and the rest of Mahsa's family are "dissatisfied with these matters" and that "the family's only desire is to deal with the ones directly responsible for their daughter's death and punish them."

Iran summons UK, Norwegian envoys over interference

In a similar context, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the UK ambassador to Iran on Saturday in response to hostile reporting by Persian-language media located in London against Iran.

The director-general of Western Europe at the ministry sent Iran's strong criticism to the United Kingdom for hosting the media, which has prioritized provocation and the spread of disturbances in Iran.

The director-general further stated that this is deemed an intrusion into Iranian internal affairs and a violation of Iranian sovereignty.

Similarly, the Norwegian Ambassador to Tehran was called by the director-general in response to the Norwegian Parliament speaker's meddling comments about internal Iranian issues.

The director-general expressed Iran's strong opposition to the speaker of Norway's Parliament's prejudicial and unrealistic remarks on the recent riots in Iran.

He further stressed that such divisive utterances will be interpreted as meddling in Iran's domestic affairs.

Read more: Iran denounces West's meddling in internal affairs, Mahsa Amini’s case