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With one human rights group reporting that the number of people confirmed killed has passed 6,000, several young Iranians able speak to the BBC in recent days - despite a near-total internet shutdown - have described the personal toll.

Parisa [a 29-year-old woman from Teheran] said one 26-year-old woman she knew was killed by “a hail of bullets in the street” when the protests escalated across the country on Thursday, 8 January, and Friday, 9 January, and authorities responded with lethal force to crush them.

She herself took part in protests in the north of Tehran that Thursday, which she insisted were peaceful.

“No-one was violent and no-one clashed with the security forces. But on Friday night they still opened fire on the crowd,” she said.

“The smell of gunpowder and bullets filled the neighbourhoods where clashes were taking place.”

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“Despite the killings on Thursday [8 January] and threats of more killings on Friday, people came out, because many of them could no longer endure it and had nothing left to lose,” [Mehdi, 24, another Iranian protester] added.

Mehdi described witnessing multiple killings of protesters at close range by security forces.

“I saw a young man killed right in front of my eyes with two live rounds,” he said.

“Motorcyclists shot a young man in the face with a shotgun. He fell on the spot and never got back up.”

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Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) says it has so far confirmed the killing of at least 6,159 people since the unrest began, including 5,804 protesters, 92 children and 214 people affiliated with the government. It is also investigating 17,000 more reported deaths.

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