At least 106 Iranians have already been killed in protests over fuel prices that began last Friday, Amnesty International reported on Tuesday.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani could have cooled popular passions had they responded to these protests with humility. Amid already-significant economic despair, it was understandable that Iranians would be upset over his regime’s withdrawal of fuel subsidies. Had the government had any interest in recognizing the scale of suffering, it might have tapered off the subsidy withdrawal. Instead, Khamenei and his authoritarian hordes are doing what they do best — they are spilling Iranian blood and justifying their violence by labeling their fellow citizens as Western saboteurs and hooligans corrupted by the internet.