Shafaq News– Los Angeles

Chaos erupted in downtown Los Angeles when a truck drove into a crowd of protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime, leaving several people injured.

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that firefighters evaluated two individuals at the scene, both of whom declined treatment or transport. Paramedics were also attending to reports of a third injured person, although reaching them was slowed by the dense crowd.

Footage broadcast by the Daily News showed protesters striking a U-Haul truck and removing signs attached to its cargo area. Some of the signs, written in English, read, "No to the Shah, No to the Regime, U.S., Don’t Repeat 1953."

The video then captured the truck moving rapidly through the crowd, sending protesters scrambling. Authorities later confirmed the driver had been taken into custody, and investigations are ongoing.

The Los Angeles protests coincided with nationwide unrest that erupted in Iran on December 28, following the collapse of the Iranian rial to a record low of about 1.45 million per US dollar. The currency collapse triggered sharp increases in food prices and inflation, fueling public anger.

Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, accused the United States and Israel of directing the protests, portraying them as an effort to destabilize the country. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attributed attacks on civilians, mosques, and public property to “terrorists” linked to foreign powers, urging citizens to distance themselves from the “rioters.”

While Iranian authorities have not released official casualty or arrest figures, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that as of January 12, at least 544 people had been killed, and 10,681 were arrested. HRANA also documented protests at 585 locations across all 31 provinces.

Read more: Iran’s protests between economic crisis and political contestation