Protesters in Iran have set fire to the ancestral home of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Videos posted on social media showed part of the structure in the city of Khomein being set ablaze.
One of the social media videos posted on Twitter on Saturday showed dozens of protesters cheering as a flash of fire sparked in a building. “Protesters have burned down the house in which Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamist regime, was born in. the house, in the city of Khomein, has been a museum for the past 30 years. Now it's charcoal. The protesters are increasing in strength,” the caption of the post read.
Watch the video below:
As per the BBC, an activist network said that footage was recorded on Thursday.
Separately, Reuters verified the videos' location, however, the semi-official Tasnim news agency denied there had been an arson attack, saying only a small number of people had gathered outside the house. The agency also shared a video of the house and stated that the “door of the historic house is open to visitors”.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is said to have been born in the house, which is now a museum that commemorates his life. He was the leader of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, which deposed the nation's pro-Western leader, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He served as the first supreme leader of Iran. Khomeini died in 1989.
The fire at his ancestral house is one of the latest incidents in a wave of nationwide protests directed at his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his government. The demonstrations, calling for an end to hardline clerical rule, erupted around two months ago after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police.
On Thursday, the Iranian state media said that five members of the security forces were killed in the latest unrest. But on Friday, funerals for young Iranians said to have been killed by security forces reportedly sparked fresh demonstrations.
