The state-run Mehr news agency acknowledged the widespread protests, and to relate to people’s anger they called the mullahs’ insulting TV program a “distortion of history” and added: “Some people of Bakhtiari tribe in various cities of Khuzestan province (south-west of Iran) gathered in front of the IRIB (Radio and TV) centers and protested against distortion of history in the channel 3 TV series.”

Simultaneously, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, wrote: “The Bakhtiaris residing in Isfahan gathered in front of the IRIB center in this province and protested against insult to the people and history of Bakhtiari in a TV series.”

According to this report, Esmael Jalili, member of the regime’s reactionary parliament, Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the Expediency Council of clerical regime, and mullah Hajati, temporary preacher of Friday prayers in Ahwaz, protested against this TV series to further try and calm protesters down.

The people protested on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in five provinces and will continue their protests on Monday. In return, the Iranian regime used tear gas and fired bullets into crowds of protesters and arrested a great number of them.

The protests turned violent on Sunday, with police beating the defenseless and arresting the innocent. The strongest waves of arrests were in the cities of Dezful, Shahr-e-Kord and Isfahan.

IRGC commander Ahmad Radan, deputy chief of police forces, travelled to Ahwaz to personally take over the command of police operation in four provinces of southwestern Iran.