Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 20, 2019—Units of the Iranian regime’s repressive state police attacked a crowd of protesters outside Tehran Municipality on Monday, August 19, arresting several demonstrators. The police even fired tear gas to disperse the growing crowd.
Participants in this rally were protesting the regime authorities’ resorting to literally torturing and mass killing stray dogs in a vicious manner across the country. Videos of police brutality targeting stray dogs went viral and led to growing public anger.
Parallel to Tehran, municipalities throughout Iran have in recent months launched killing sprees of stray dogs in larger numbers than in the past. Videos showing authorities abusing and killing the animals in horrific fashion have resulted in uproars across social media platforms.
Tehran’s officials, including the mayor, have been under heavy criticism due to these measures that authorities claim were carried out by contractors.
The regime’s laws demand authorities to prevent the spread of diseases through stray animals and consider this a duty of the municipalities. However, even the regime’s own law does not mention any killing of animals.
Animal rights activists argue that the regime’s municipalities choose to kill the dogs due to the fact that it is less costly than neutering. Animal abuse is also specifically mentioned as illegal by the regime’s own laws.
