"Shotgun fire" on protesters in Saravan, Gilan; 22 people arrested
Simultaneously with the publication of photos of the effects of a shotgun on the bodies of protesters in Saravan, Gilan, the provincial police force announced that 22 people had been arrested in a gathering of Saravan residents protesting against the accumulation of garbage in the area, and their cases are being processed through a judicial authority.
According to Fars News Agency, Majid Rasoulzadeh, Deputy for Cultural and Social Affairs of the Gilan Police Force, called the detainees "profit-seekers" and claimed that they were seeking to "create insecurity" and "abuse the rightful demands of the people of Saravan."
The police official accused the detainees of attempting to prevent the reopening of the Saravan landfill site by "throwing stones and engaging in physical confrontations," and that "five police officers" were injured as a result of the stone-throwing.
These statements come at a time when a peaceful gathering of Saravan residents against the accumulation of garbage in the forest lands of this region on Thursday, May 28, turned violent with the intervention of the police. According to videos published on social media, the police used aerial fire and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
According to videos released from the beginning of the gathering, these citizens were chanting peaceful slogans and some of them were even offering flowers to the police forces stationed in the area.
But hours after the rally, social media users also posted photos showing police firing shotgun pellets at protesters, injuring some of them.
The transportation and accumulation of waste in about 16 hectares of forest land in the Saravan region of Rasht, which has recently reached a height of more than 90 meters, has become a major problem in this area for years.
The head of the Rasht Municipality Waste Management Organization had previously said that with the daily arrival of waste to this center, an average of 5.30 to 6.30 liters per second of leachate is produced annually and enters the underground water table.
In addition to polluting the environment and producing an unpleasant odor, the production of this leachate has also contaminated groundwater aquifers, affected livestock and poultry nutrition, polluted rivers, the Anzali Wetland, and the Caspian Sea, contaminated rice fields and orchards, and caused skin diseases in nearby areas.
On March 4, 2021, Gilan Governor Asadollah Abbasi visited the region, noting that "our problem is not simply budget, but management," and said, "Starting tomorrow, a jihadi movement must be launched to resolve the problem of landfilling waste in the region."
Source: Radio Farda
