Protests continue in Iran; this time against direct shooting of Kolbars

The hashtag "#Don't_shoot_kolbars," which was created in protest of the direct shooting of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran at kolbars, has received widespread coverage on social media.

It is said that this hashtag has even become the number one trend on Twitter in Iran. Civil society activists and human rights defenders had called on social media users to launch a “Twitter storm” on Sunday, August 2, against the shooting of kolbars by armed forces.

In this regard, the hashtag "#Kolbar_Don't_Kill" was shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter despite being filtered. Many photos and videos related to the Kolbar phenomenon have also been published on social networks.

Direct shooting at the kolbars

A report published last Friday (July 31) by the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization once again drew public attention to the phenomenon of kolbari in Iran and the dangers it poses.

On the same day, HRANA News Agency reported the killing of another Kolbar in the border areas of Chaldran due to gunfire from armed forces.

HRANA News Agency announced the name of this Kolbar as Reza Pourasmael and wrote that he was from the village of "Khazarlu" in the Chaldaran region of West Azerbaijan province.

The report stated that the person was shot by border guards without prior warning and died from his injuries.

According to a report published by a group of human rights activists in Iran, the number of Kolbars killed and injured by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic in 2018 was more than 150. Of these, 48 Kolbars died as a result of direct fire from law enforcement forces in the border areas of Iran and Iraq.

The Hengao report states that the police were also responsible for the killing and wounding of most of the kolbars in July.

The report states: "During July 2020, at least 20 kolbars and traders were killed or injured on the borders of Kurdistan, 80 percent of which were killed or injured as a result of direct fire from Iranian armed forces."

According to the same report, the highest number of victims were from West Azerbaijan province. During July, this province had the highest number of victims among kolbars with 12 killed and injured. The remaining kolbars were from Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces.