Tear gas used to disperse Tehran protesters drifts near Sina Hospital, with authorities denying deliberate targeting amid cost-of-living demonstrations.
TEHRAN: Tear gas used to disperse demonstrators in central Tehran drifted near a hospital, Iranian media reported.
Security forces frequently deploy tear gas during protests triggered by the rising cost of living.
To clear a crowd, “tear gas was used in the alley adjacent to the Sina Hospital,” the ISNA news agency reported, citing a statement from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
The Sina Hospital is affiliated with the university and is about two kilometres from Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.
The bazaar is the country’s economic hub and saw clashes between protesters and police on Tuesday.
“The natural reaction of the protesters is to move (the gas) away from the gathering place,” the statement said.
It added that some of the substance “unintentionally drifted towards the hospital.”
The report stated that claims tear gas was deliberately fired into the hospital “does not correspond to the facts.”
Protests were triggered by anger over the rising cost of living.
The Iranian rial hit another record low against foreign currencies on Tuesday.
The protest wave began with a merchant shutdown in Tehran on December 28.
It has since spread to other areas, especially the west, home to Kurdish and Lor minority groups.
This is the most serious protest movement since the 2022-2023 nationwide rallies sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody.
The demonstrations have yet to reach the scale of the 2022-2023 movement.
They also fall short of the mass 2009 street protests that followed disputed elections.
The protests present a new challenge against a backdrop of economic crisis and following a 12-day war against Israel in June.
