Iran protesters say set fire to Khomeini's home

STORY: The ongoing mass protests against Iran's government and religious establishment, are now said to have torched the home of the Islamic Republic's founding father.

That's according to activists. Videos like this one widely shared on social media Thursday (November 17) show fire outside the home of the late Ayatollah Khomenei, who swept to power as the country's first Supreme Leader after the 1979 revolution.

The protests were sparked by the death of a woman in police custody in September after she allegedly flouted its dress code.

Reuters cannot verify when it filmed, but was able to match the location. The building had been turned into a museum.

Separate social media video the same day shows protests, flames, and explosions elsewhere in the country.

A semi-official media outlet in Iran, Tasnim news agency, called the reports that Khomenei's home was set on fire "a lie," said a small number of people had gathered there, and that its doors were open to the public.

Nationwide protests have gripped Iran since mid-September and the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, like these chaotic scenes in Tehran's metro system.

People can be heard chanting, "I am a free woman. You are the pervert. You are the whore."

On Wednesday Iran's government said it had arrested several French intelligence agents in connection to the protests, which Paris denied.