Truck crashes into crowd of pro-Iranian freedom protesters in Los Angeles

A U-Haul truck drove down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of Iranian freedom, sparking widespread chaos and injuring two.

The vehicle, with its window and side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars after barrelling through the crowd.

Helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.

The driver, a man who was not identified, was arrested and is facing ‘further investigation’, police said.

One person was hit by the truck and two others were evaluated by paramedics, but didn’t require hospitalisation.

Initial footage appears to show the truck driving deliberately into the crowd, sparking fears that it could have been politically motivated.

A banner on the side of the truck read: ‘No Shah, No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.’

The banner references the 1953 coup in Iran, which ousted the Prime Minister and was orchestrated by the US and UK.

‘No Mullah’ is in reference to the Mullah, which is a name attached to a king or noble, or religious leader in Islamic theology.

In the past two weeks, more than 10,600 people have been arrested while protesting the regime in Iran.

Some 496 protesters have been killed by security forces in the country, and with the internet shut down and phone lines cut off, it’s hard to know how large the demonstrations have become.

Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

What are the Iranians protesting?

Demonstrations initially erupted over the sharp decline of the Rial, the country’s currency, but have now spread across the Middle Eastern nation.

Unrest first started in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar – traditionally a barometer of economic anger – and has since spilt far beyond, and is now threatening the governing Islamic regime.

But the protests are no longer just about prices and livelihoods, but the repression of human rights and the autocratic system itself.

The protests are the largest since a wave of demonstrations rocked the country after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody following her arrest for not wearing the hijab correctly.

At the time, Iranian police responded with force, imposing an internet shutdown and violently cracking down on demonstrations with teargas and gunfire.