Fire and gunshots erupted at Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Saturday night, an Oslo-based rights group reported, as the protest movement sparked by Mahsa Amini's death in custody entered a fifth week.
Flames and a plume of smoke could be seen billowing into the night sky and pops of what appeared to be gunfire could be heard in video footage shared by Iran Human Rights on Twitter.
"A fire is spreading in Evin prison" and an "explosion was heard" from the facility, the 1500tasvir social media channel that monitors protests and police violations said on Twitter.
"Troubles" erupted between inmates and guards at Tehran's Evin prison and a fire broke out but the situation is "under control", Iranian state media reported Saturday.
"Troubles and clashes took place on Saturday night" in the prison and inmates started a fire, the IRNA news agency said, citing a senior security official. "The situation is currently completely under control," the source added.
Angry demonstrators took to streets across Iran again Saturday despite internet cuts, as the protest movement sparked by Mahsa Amini's death in custody entered a fifth week.
The 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died on September 16, three days after falling into a coma following her arrest by Iran's notorious morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
Young women have been at the forefront of the biggest wave of street protests seen in the country for years.
"Guns, tanks, fireworks; the mullahs must get lost," women without hijabs chanted at a gathering at Tehran's Shariati Technical and Vocational College, in a video widely shared online.
Scores of jeering and whistling protesters hurled projectiles at security forces near a landmark roundabout in Hamedan city, west of Tehran, in footage verified by AFP.
Despite what online monitor NetBlocks called a "major disruption to internet traffic", protesters were also seen pouring onto the streets of the northwestern city of Ardabil, in videos shared on Twitter.
The women-led protests have won support from the US president.
"I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran," Joe Biden said late Friday.
"It stunned me what it awakened in Iran. It awakened something that I don't think will be quieted for a long, long time."
At least 108 people have been killed in the Amini protests, and at least 93 more have died in separate clashes in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.
The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International has called an "unrelenting brutal crackdown" that has included an "all-out attack on child protesters" - leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.
The crackdown has drawn international condemnation and sanctions on Iran from Britain, Canada and the United States.
Iran's supreme leader has accused the country's enemies, including the US and Israel, of fomenting the "riots".
Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has called on the European Union to adopt a "realistic approach" over the Amini protests as the bloc prepares to impose new sanctions on the Islamic republic.
"Who would believe that the death of one girl is so important to Westerners?" he said in a statement on Friday.
EU countries agreed this week to level new sanctions, and the move is due to be endorsed at the bloc's foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
