Khuzestan Protests and Nationwide Internet Disruption
Videos have been published on social media that are said to be related to protests in Dezful and Mahshahr. Demonstrators are chanting slogans against the leaders of the Islamic Republic. At the same time, reports have been published about internet disruption across the country.
On Wednesday evening (May 11th) videos were posted on social media showing a number of citizens chanting slogans such as “Death to Khamenei”, “Death to Raisi”, “Tanks and cannons, the mullahs must disappear”, “Reza Shah may your soul rest in peace”.
These videos are said to be related to protests in Dezful and Mahshahr. Deutsche Welle is unable to verify and confirm the location of these videos.
In recent days, protests over inflation and living conditions have been held in various cities in Khuzestan, which have been met with a harsh response from the government. Among the government measures to prevent the spread of protests were reducing internet speed and in some cases cutting off internet and mobile phones.
NetBlocks, an organization that monitors internet outages and disruptions worldwide, reported on Wednesday evening (May 11th) a temporary outage and disruption in the internet of some Iranian operators.
The non-governmental organization said in a tweet: “Based on live data from international information exchange in Rightel internet service network in Iran, there is currently a severe drop.”
According to NetBlocks, data exchange in mobile networks and fixed lines is also facing problems. NetBlocks continues in its tweet that “speed reduction can limit the free flow of information in the midst of protests.”
Rightel is the third largest nationwide mobile phone operator in Iran.
Previous Protests and Government Response
Demonstrations and unrest in Khuzestan began in response to inflation and economic hardship on the evening of May 5th and continued in subsequent days, with increased suppression and detention of protesters.
According to the “Campaign to Defend Political and Civil Prisoners” website, on May 7th, Saeid Doheimi, a citizen of Ahvaz, along with Atiyeh Moghanemi, a municipality employee, and Hossein Moghanemi Razi from Susangerd were detained.
Previously, the names of seven arrested citizens were announced as Jassem Bahrani, Hashem Bahrani, Mohammad Torfi, Adel Hamadi, Mostafa Cheldavi, Abbas Cheldavi and Emad Savari as detainees.
The Emtedad website, close to the “National Unity Party”, also reported on May 8th, quoting a civil activist from Khuzestan, about street protests and actions such as burning tires in Arab-populated areas of Ahvaz such as Zarean, Akhar Asphalt, Alavi Street and Meshali Street (Abouzar).
The civil activist also said that “Susangerd and Izeh experienced heated nights and witnessed widespread presence of protesting people in the streets.”
Source: DW
