A group of citizens and animal lovers gathered in front of Tehran municipality protesting the mass-killings and abuse of dogs across the country and calling for a law to protect the animals.

The protesters were holding signs with slogans such as “Our God is the God of animals” and “Do not kill the dogs of our land”.

In recent months, aside from Tehran, municipalities across the country have also started killing stray dogs at a higher rate than before. A few months ago, two videos that showed dogs being tortured and killed in Tehran caused an uproar on social media.

One video shows municipality workers beating some dogs and trying to kill them before a few animal lovers interfere and try to stop them. The other video shows a municipality contractor with a gun going after a dog and another person begging him not to kill the dog that is taking care of her newborn babies.

The mayor of Tehran responded to the videos by promising to punish the contractor in the video and stated that “the municipality has a social responsibility to protect the residential areas by controlling the animals in the city,” but “we do not allow any employee or contractor to act against Islamic human values.”

According to the law, preventing the spread of diseases through stray animals is one of the duties of the municipalities, but the law does not mention killing the animals.

The animal rights activists say the municipalities choose to kill the animals only because it is cheaper than neutering.

The law also states that any sort of animal abuse is illegal.