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Video purportedly shows Iranian police running over person at protest

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Video purportedly shows Iranian police running over person
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Video's posters say it shows Iranian police driving into crowds of demonstrators
  • Truck drives over person in video, which posters say was recorded Sunday
  • Seven people were killed in anti-government protests in Iran Sunday, authorities say

(CNN) -- An Internet video from what its posters said was one of the anti-government demonstrations last weekend in Iran shows police vehicles driving into crowds of protesters and running over at least one.

In the video -- shot Sunday, according to the posting on the Web site YouTube -- green-and-white police trucks rush into crowds of protesters in the capital, Tehran. Demonstrators scatter, but one truck drives into a crowd trapped in a narrow street with a wall on one side and parked cars on the other.

The camera follows the truck as it backs away, and a person briefly can be seen crumpled in the street where the truck had been. When the camera returns to the spot, another police truck drives over the person. Other protesters rush to the downed person's aid; it was not clear whether that person was killed.

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the video, or another one obtained by CNN that shows a woman who was reportedly killed when hit by a car driven by members of the Basij, an Iranian paramilitary group. That video shows protesters transferring her body from a clinic near where she was reportedly killed to another hospital to keep her remains out of reach of security forces.

Iranian authorities have said seven people were killed during Sunday's protests, which were held on the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday the demonstrations were staged by "the Zionists and the Americans," according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Video: Woman purportedly run over taken to hospital
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The demonstrations were the deadliest since June, when protests following the country's disputed presidential election left eight dead.

Iranian security forces reportedly have been holding the bodies of protesters killed during the clashes. Iranian authorities say they are holding the bodies for autopsies, but the delay prevents family members from burying the bodies within 24 hours, as Islamic custom requires.

Iran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, told reporters that seven people were killed in Sunday's clashes. Most died after being struck with "hard objects or due to similar causes," Dolatabadi said.