Iran blocks internet as protests continue

Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as video showed buildings and vehicles ablaze in anti-government protests raging through the streets of several cities.

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In a televised address, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of émigré opposition groups and the United States, as rights groups reported police firing on protesters in the south.

The unrest has not mobilised as many layers of society as other bouts of political, economic or human rights protest in the past decade and a half, but dozens are reported dead and the authorities look more vulnerable because of a dire economic situation and the aftermath of last year’s war with Israel and the United States.