Symbol of the Wounded Eye; Iranian Citizens’ Solidarity with Injured Isfahan Protesters
Hrana News Agency – Following the widespread use of shotguns by security and police forces to suppress the protests of Isfahan farmers and citizens supporting their demands, and the circulation of images showing the injured eyes of these protesters, a number of citizens on social networks came forward to support them. These citizens, by posting images of themselves with one eye covered, protested against the violence of security forces in suppressing protesters and the use of weapons such as shotguns that cause irreparable damage to the eye, and declared solidarity with the injured protesters.
According to Hrana News Agency, the news outlet of the Iranian Human Rights Activists Assembly, a number of citizens on social networks, by posting images of themselves with one eye covered, protested against the violence of security forces in suppressing protesters and the use of weapons such as shotguns that cause irreparable damage to the eye, and declared solidarity with the injured protesters.
During the Isfahan protests, security and police forces used shotguns to suppress the protests of Isfahan farmers and citizens supporting their demands. Following this, images of protesters with injured eyes were circulated on social networks. Simultaneously, some doctors and medical personnel reported a high number of visits regarding eye injuries to medical centers in recent days in Isfahan.
Based on official sources, at least 19 of the wounded from Friday’s protests are hospitalized in ophthalmology departments of medical centers, and the condition of 2 patients was reported as critical.
An ophthalmologist and eye surgeon residing in Isfahan, in a conversation with Hrana, referring to reports from official media, said: “In just one hospital, the number of visits resulting from shootings on Friday and Saturday was close to this number. From this perspective, it can be said that cases of citizens’ eye injuries are several times more than the 19 cases reported by official media. The impact of buckshot pellets, considering the spread of pellets in the head and face of some patients, indicates firing from a very close distance of just a few meters, and this is while being targeted with this weapon from a distance of more than 30 meters can also have irreparable effects if the materials compressed inside the bullet are lead-based.”
Skyler Thompson, external relations officer of the Iranian Human Rights Activists Assembly, in connection with this news told Hrana: This organization is very concerned about receiving numerous reports regarding unnecessary and unconventional use of force against citizens in peaceful protests in Isfahan. We call on the Iranian government to respect the right to peaceful assembly and ensure citizens’ exercise of this right, and also to refrain from excessive and unlawful use of coercive force against protesters. Authorities must promptly report and investigate all incidents related to deaths or injuries caused by firearms used by security or military forces through an independent administrative or prosecutorial process in accordance with human rights law commitments.
The protest gatherings of farmers began on Sunday, November 7, in front of the office of one of the representatives of the eleventh parliament, the building of Isfahan’s state radio and television center, and the Isfahan Regional Water Company, and ultimately moved to the dry bed of the Zayanderud River. Protesting citizens, demanding the allocation of autumn water rights and revival of the Zayanderud River, also held sit-ins near the Khaju Bridge at night.
Finally, on the night of Wednesday, December 24, a number of protesters’ tents were set on fire, and the Isfahan prosecutor, while announcing the arrest of some individuals for dismantling tents, called them “ruffians and vagrants”; simultaneously, Rokna News Agency reported the short-term arrest of several of these individuals and stated that at least two of those detained were farmers. Hrana, on Saturday, December 27, by publishing a report titled “Over 214 Arrested in Isfahan Protests; Summary Report of Protesters’ Arrests and Security Forces’ Violence,” reported beatings and shootings at protesters and the arrest of at least 214 people, including 13 children.
Hrana had previously also addressed this issue in a report titled “Thousands of Citizens Protest in Isfahan Over Water Supply Management Failure and Non-allocation of Water Rights.”
The use of shotguns by security forces to suppress protesters is not a novel occurrence. Previously, during the so-called Golestan Haftom protests, which began after midnight on February 3, 2018, with a large presence of security and police forces around the residence of Dr. Noor Ali Tabandeh, the spiritual leader of the Gonabadi Dervishes, security forces also used buckshot, which ultimately resulted in permanent eye damage to some Gonabadi Dervishes or loss of their vision. In 2019, police forces in Chile also resorted to violence to suppress protesters and used shotguns, as a result of which 445 people were wounded in the eye area, over 34 people became blind in one eye, and some completely lost their vision. This event initiated a movement in that country protesting the violence used by police with the symbol of the eye. It appears that the severe violence of security forces has caused a similar reaction among the people of Iran and Chile.
Source: Hrana
