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A burned bank in Tehran, November 20, 2019. Nazanin Tabatabaee / WANA

According to Tehran, the figures of repression are provided by " hostile groups ", calling them " absolute lies ".

Armed clashes took place in several cities in the south of the country, reports our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi . According to the prefect of Mahshahr, armed groups had attempted to take control of the city's refining facilities and block the supply route to the northern cities. According to the prefect, the police intervened against these armed rebel groups, an indeterminate number of whom were killed.

Shooting on protesters and thousands of arrests

In Sirjan, still in the South, the police fired on armed protesters who wanted to burn down fuel deposits. According to an official of the Revolutionary Guards, some 700 banks and fifty department stores were looted and burned, as well as prefectures, police stations and religious centers.

In the province of Tehran alone, more than 2,000 people have been arrested, according to the governor, but most have been released. Some 300 people are still detained.

The authorities still refuse to give an overall assessment of the dead, but deny the figures provided by the opposition groups abroad. " I say clearly that the figures provided by hostile groups are absolute lies ," said the spokesman of the judiciary Gholamhossein Esmaili, quoted by Iranian state television on Tuesday. " They have announced some numbers and some names, but they are manufactured numbers and they are lies, " he added. According to the Iranian official, " the names they gave are also lies because they included people still alive and others who died of natural death ".

► "People are poor, they can not cope anymore"

At least 208 dead according to Amnesty

Monday, Amnesty International a new record of at least 208 people killed in the ongoing protest since mid-November in Iran and the announcement of an increase in the price of gasoline. " The actual balance " of this crackdown " is likely higher " to this figure, said the NGO based in London, arguing that this estimate was based on " credible information " she had collected.

In a previous assessment, on 29 November, Amnesty International reported 161 deaths.

► Unprecedented digital censorship in Iran

For their part, the Iranian authorities confirmed the death of only five people - four members of the security forces killed by " rioters " and a civilian - and announced about 500 arrests, including those of 180 " leaders " .

(with AFP)