People on the ground in Iran are describing scenes from the ongoing anti-government protests in cities such as Tehran, Shiraz, and Neyshabur as “like a war zone,” with medical staff recounting shootings of protesters and bystanders, including women and entire families, as security forces fire from rooftops and hidden positions.
In one harrowing video shared with the exile outlet IranWire, a member of medical staff, overwhelmed by the scale of injuries, can be heard saying, “I have never seen such scenes in my life,” before describing how security forces “shot (her) in the head and neck” and adding, “Do you have any idea how many patients we have until now?” The description paints a picture of hospitals and clinics inundated with gunshot victims, many of them young protesters, as medics struggle to cope with the influx and document what they say are deliberate attacks on civilians.
A doctor in the northeastern city of Neyshabur told IranWire that security forces were firing live ammunition at protesters from elevated positions, including rooftops and terraces, rather than from the streets, making it harder for people to see the shooters and flee. “They are shooting from rooftops and terraces. They are not on the street where people can see and run away,” she said in an audio message, adding that “they even shoot at ordinary pedestrians,” including a family of six who were hit while simply passing by and the nurse of an elderly woman who was shot on her way home.
