Major interruption of internet service in Iran, reports NetBlocks on Twitter

Internet monitor NetBlocks reported a major service outage in Iran on Monday, raising concerns among rights groups that there will be a shutdown of web access to help quell anti-government unrest in Kurdish-populated regions.

Protests across the country, sparked by the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September in the custody of the morality police, have been most intense in the western provinces, where most of Iran’s 10 million Kurds live.

NetBlocks, which tracks connectivity around the world, tweeted that mobile internet was cut off for many users in Iran amid a new wave of protests and reports of casualties.

Several videos shared on social media on Monday showed crowds fleeing bullets fired by security forces, with footage in the Kurdish-populated city of Javanrud showing people sheltering behind a wall, tending to an injured man. and trying to recover the body of a dead protester that was lying in the street.

Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, shared a video showing security forces being dispatched to the Kurdish cities of Mahabad and Bukan in dozens of pickup trucks, motorcycles, police cars and a light armored vehicle painted black. . Reuters was unable to verify the images.