Explainer: Why does Iran’s Baluchistan bear the brunt of the uprising?

Why does Iran’s Baluchistan bear the brunt of the uprising?

Iran’s most impoverished province Sistan-o Baluchistan has been at the forefront of the latest anti-establishment movement, with at least 128 deaths in two months.

For the tenth successive Friday, the people of Zahedan demonstrated against the government after the Friday prayer on 2 December, some shouting, “Khamenei is a killer, his reign is wicked”.

BBC Persian reported that the security forces shot live ammunition and tear gas at protestors in this southeastern city.

Zahedan is the capital of Iran’s most impoverished province Sistan-o Baluchistan, housing the Baluch minority ethnic group, who predominantly are followers of the Sunni branch of Islam.

Unlike other Iranian cities, where protestors gather after dark in small scattered groups in several neighbourhoods, in Zahedan, people demonstrate around the Makki Grand Mosque in large numbers after the Friday prayers.

Residents of other Baluch cities, such as Saravan, Khash, Sarbaz and Rask, follow the same pattern of protests, despite the heavy presence of the police’s Special Unites and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).