Live updates: Iran protest death toll tops 500, U-Haul drives through LA crowd of protesters
People try to identify their loved ones among dozens of bodies in Tehran province
People try to identify their loved ones among dozens of bodies in Tehran province
00:49
Videos out of Tehran province show people at the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center as they try to identify their loved ones among dozens of bodies.
Verified videos obtained by CNN show a crowd of people gathered in front of a monitor that displays photos of deceased people as their loved ones try to identify them. Information seen on the screen suggests there could be up to 250 bodies.
Another clip from the forensic facility shows bodies in black body bags lined up on a walkway outside the building, with people gathered around. Screams of anguish could be heard, and people are seen crying beside the bodies. Some bodies are set down on an unpaved area by the building as families frantically search for the remains of their loved ones.
The monitor in the first video indicates the date as Friday. CNN cannot independently verify when the rest of the clips were taken.
Iranian state-affiliated media has acknowledged the situation at the facility but insists that the bodies seen are those of “ordinary people” who were dragged into the protests.
State-affiliated Tasnim News Agency posted a video with scenes from the forensics institute. The video shows the agency reporter’s conversations with grieving loved ones at the institute, who tell him their relatives were not protesters and were not inclined to protest.
One bereaved man sitting on the floor beside a body in a black bag tells the state media reporter in tears that his loved one was hit in the head with a rock thrown at them by an unknown person from the top of a building. The man says his loved one was pro-government.
The state media reporter then turns to the camera and says protesters who “aimed to clash” with security forces or “wanted to seize a [military] base or something and may have used arms” are also among the dead. “But most of these people were ordinary people and [their] families are ordinary families,” he says.
Some background: The Iranian government has called on citizens not to join “rioters and terrorists” participating in demonstrations across Iran. President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that there was a difference between people peacefully protesting and the “rioters” who set out to “disrupt the entire society.”
