13 People Arrested Following Clash Between Law Enforcement and Villagers in Lorestan
The police commander of Selseleh County in Lorestan Province announced the arrest of 13 people in connection with a clash between law enforcement and villagers in the Kahman area on the previous day.
On Wednesday, the 8th of Ordibehesht, videos of a confrontation between special guards and residents of Kahman village were circulated on social media.
In these videos, gunfire can be heard, and some local sources reported that several residents of the village were wounded in these clashes.
Askar Esayi, the police commander of Selseleh, told Iran’s IRNA news agency on Thursday, the 9th of Ordibehesht, that these clashes occurred due to “the implementation of an order to eradicate and remove encroachment on state lands in the area.”
According to Esayi, 13 residents who were present in these clashes, as well as a number of those who published images of these events, were arrested yesterday.
Meanwhile, according to ISNA, Younes Azadpour, the prosecutor of Selseleh County, threatened on Thursday that “according to the law, we will consider the most severe punishment for those who have committed ‘norm violations’.”
Azadpour also reported taking action against individuals who unlawfully engaged in “unauthorized” tree planting in the area, saying that “without needing to open a case, we have the authority to take action to clear the boundaries [of protected areas].”
The prosecutor of Selseleh County had announced on the 2nd of Ordibehesht this year the removal of encroachment from part of the state lands in the Kahman tourism area, and this project was set to continue.
Azadpour had said: “Some individuals, due to negligence and laxity of managers in some county organizations in previous periods, without legal permission and while not being considered the owners, have proceeded with extensive cutting of native tree species including willows and century-old oaks, burning trees located in stream beds, and unauthorized planting of walnut trees.”
Meanwhile, residents of the area and some local activists say that the cutting of trees in some lands of this area by the Natural Resources Organization was the main reason for the start of yesterday’s clashes.
Selseleh County is one of the counties of Lorestan Province that, according to the announcement of the Natural Resources Department, has a total area of state resources of 112,000 hectares, of which 58,000 hectares are allocated to forest resources and 53,000 hectares to rangeland resources.
Source: Radio Farda
