TEHRAN, Iran — A semi-official news agency is quoting Iranian authorities who say two people have been killed and 48 injured in a violent protest in southwest Iran.

The Saturday report from ISNA quotes Chief Justice of Fars Province Ali Alghasimehr as saying that many of the injured in the Wednesday night protest in Kazeroon were police.

The report did not say how the fatalities or injuries occurred.

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Peaceful protests had been taking place for weeks in Kazeroon against a local government decision to divide some districts of the city and merge them into a new town.

Protesters gathered in response to a call on social media in the city some 900 kilometers (560 miles) south of Tehran. They also set fire to a police station.

Kazeroon, population nearly 150,000, is the home to the Qashqai tribe, some of whom traditionally carry hunting guns.

Authorities had promised the separation would not take place following previous protests.

Early Thursday, the Fars news agency reported that a violent protest late Wednesday left at least one person dead and six others injured.

The Interior Ministry had said in a statement published by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency that the “the wise people of Kazeroon” should be “alert against plots of the opposition groups and enemies of Iran.”

Those who wanted to “create disorder and harm the national security will be firmly confronted legally,” the ministry said in a statement.