{"id":362549,"date":"2026-01-10T09:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362549\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T09:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:43:07","slug":"iran-protests-medics-describe-overwhelmed-hospitals-as-demonstrations-enter-second-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362549\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran protests: Medics describe overwhelmed hospitals as demonstrations enter second week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since protests began on 28 December, at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). More than 2,311 individuals have also been arrested, the group reported.<\/p>\n

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, had been killed.<\/p>\n

BBC Persian has spoken to the families of 22 of them and confirmed their identities. <\/p>\n

United Nations Secretary General spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric said the UN was very disturbed by the loss of life. <\/p>\n

“People anywhere in the world have a right to demonstrate peacefully, and governments have a responsibility to protect that right and to ensure that that right is respected,” he said.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz released a joint statement that said: “The Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect their own population and must allow for the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal.”<\/p>\n

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remained defiant in a televised address on Friday<\/a>, saying: “The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of several hundred thousand honourable people and it will not back down in the face of those who deny this.”<\/p>\n

Later, in remarks made to a gathering of supporters and broadcast on state television, Khamenei reiterated the message, saying Iran “will not shirk from dealing with destructive elements”.<\/p>\n

Iran’s UN ambassador accused the US of “interfering in Iran’s internal affairs through threats, incitement, and the deliberate encouragement of instability and violence,” in a letter to the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since protests began on 28 December, at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-362549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}