One dead as petrol protests spread in Iran

TEHRAN: One person was killed and others injured in protests that spread Saturday across Iran after a surprise decision to impose petrol price hikes and rationing in the sanctions-hit country.

The death Friday occurred in the central city of Sirjan, where protesters tried to set a fuel depot ablaze but were thwarted by security forces, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Demonstrations broke out hours after it was announced the price of petrol would be increased by 50 percent for the first 60 litres and 300 percent for anything above that each month. "Unfortunately someone was killed," Sirjan´s acting governor Mohammad Mahmoudabadi said, adding it was still unclear if the civilian had been "shot or not".

"Security forces did not have permission to shoot and were only allowed to fire warning shots... which they did," ISNA quoted him as saying. It was a "calm gathering" exploited by some who "destroyed

public property, damaged fuel stations and also wanted to access the oil company´s main fuel depots and set fire to them", he added.