Water Dispute in Kazerun; Police: One Person Killed
News and images shared on social media indicate a dispute over water in the village of Komarch in Kazerun, and Iran’s police force has confirmed that one person was killed in the clashes.
Mohammad Abadi-Nejad, the police commander of Kazerun, claims that police officers fired “warning shots” with shotguns at the “rebels” and one person was wounded during this shooting and died in the hospital.
It is unclear how warning shots resulted in the death of one of those present.
This Iranian police official also stated that the police force, following a court order, intended to “confiscate unauthorized water pumps,” but a number of villagers “while resisting and assaulting officers, threw stones at them and initiated clashes.”
This comes as IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, reported that local people had for years extracted water from the Shapur River for irrigation of gardens and seasonal cultivation using fixed and mobile water pump motors. However, now that the river’s water has severely decreased, law enforcement intended to confiscate the pump motors.
Drought and water shortage in recent months have caused numerous protests in various regions of Iran, which have been met with violent suppression by police and security forces.
Source: Voice of America
