Tear gas by the security forces that were used at the protests in the central part of Tehran fell to a hospital but without purposefully targeting it, as reported late Tuesday by Iranian media.
In one of the statements quoted by local news agencies, tear gas was deployed in an alley adjacent to Sina Hospital to scatter protestors, as demonstrations continued to rise due to the increased cost of living. The Tehran University of Medical Sciences issued the statement, which made it clear that the hospital was not the target of the operation.
The university affiliated Sina Hospital is situated in the heart of Tehran in Sina hospital, approximately two kilometres to the main commercial centre in the country the Grand Bazaar. There had been confrontations before in the day between the demonstrators and the police as the security agents dispersed crowds with tear gas.
The authorities justified the use of tear gas by saying that it was used elsewhere to disperse the crowds and it was not meant to be near the hospital. The instinctive behavior of the demonstrators is to retreat back of the gas and force it out of the meeting place. Consequently, part of the substance accidentally flew into the hospital, the statement said.
Iranian officials have often used tear gas and other methods of controlling crowds during demonstrations that have intermittently hit the country, often due to economic strains, such as the increase in prices and the cost of living. In other cases, protests have become violent and a massive security force is deployed to curb the protests.
The report was done to refute rumors that had been spread in the social media that the hospital was specifically being targeted during the protests. Officials emphasized that nothing was intentionally done to medical facilities and that gas dispersion was caused by the migration of protesters and the conditions in the surrounding.
The demonstrations associated with economic complaints have persisted to erupt in Tehran and other cities, and security forces have been very active in volatile zones.
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