25 citizens arrested for protesting against water shortage crisis in Hamedan

HRANA News Agency – The governor of Hamedan announced the arrest of a total of 25 citizens protesting the water crisis during three protest rallies in the city.

According to HRANA news agency, citing Entebka, the governor of Hamedan announced the arrest of 25 citizens protesting the water shortage crisis in Hamedan.

Mohammad Ali Mohammadi described the arrested citizens as "opponents" and the three protest gatherings as "illegal," claiming: "In this regard, 25 people were arrested, 20 of whom were not residents of Hamedan province and who intended to create fear and discontent among the people by being present in Hamedan."

Recently, citizens living in Hamedan protested the problem of drinking water supply in the province, holding rallies and chanting protest slogans, demanding that the existing water crisis be addressed.

Earlier, in response to this issue, the governor of Hamedan stated that the project related to the water transfer line to Hamedan had only made 40 percent progress over the past 17 years, and claimed: "Water transfer to Hamedan will be completed within the next one or two weeks," something that has not been possible so far.

Also, in recent days, social researcher Abbas Abdi stated regarding the current water crisis in Hamedan: "If anyone spoke about the red state of Hamedan's water reserves, or if a media outlet prepared a report on this matter, they would be accused of slander."

In addition, on September 23 of this year, Akbar Kavousi Omid, head of the Hamedan City Council Budget Commission, apologized to the people of this city for their "indiscretions," saying that the problems had been "noticed" earlier in April, but "the necessary warnings were not given to the people, and the current schedule of decisions is not being followed very closely."

In this regard, the Hamedan Provincial Bar Association previously wrote a letter to the provincial prosecutor warning about the high level of arsenic in the water of the Talvar Dam, which is scheduled to be used in the near future to supply water resources to Hamedan and compensate for the existing water shortages, and demanded that this issue be addressed. HRANA published a report on the issue, explaining some of the details of the water crisis in the city and the hardships its residents are facing.

It is important to emphasize that a female citizen was beaten by police officers during a protest rally on Wednesday evening, September 2, on Bu Ali Street in Hamedan; a video of this incident was published by the media, which prompted a negative reaction from many social media users.

Water supply crises in the country due to lack of management of water resources and excessive rainfall have previously caused numerous problems for citizens, especially those living in cities with limited water resources or tropical regions; in many cases, citizens' protests against this lack of management have been responded to by arresting protesters and beating and using violent behavior against them.

Source: HRANA