Crowd Starts Fire at Girls' School After Allegations of Sexual Assault

Protesters set fires near a girls school in Urmia, located in the northwest of Iran, after reports that a school official sexually assaulted a student on October 23, an allegation a top local official said was not true.

In this video, protesters can be seen standing on a wall outside a school building as flames leap into the air.

Unconfirmed reports that a school official had raped or sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Kurdish student circulated on social media outlets such as Twitter and Telegram several hours before the fires were set.

A video posted by a Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw showed large crowds gathered at the same location, with some protesters throwing objects at the building. The video was taken hours before reports of fires at the school.

The deputy minister of political affairs of West Azerbaijan, the province in which Urmia is located, told local news outlets reports that a school employee sexually assaulted a student were not true. Credit: Telegram/Urmiya Club via Storyful