Sixth night of Khuzestan protests; shooting and tear gas fired
Izeh, Susangerd, Shalangabad, Kot Abdullah, and Abadan have been the scene of shooting and tear gas. Local witnesses reported the death of a 16-year-old youth in Izeh. The Ministry of Defense has seen a solution in sending ten water tankers to the region.
The people of Khuzestan continue to take to the streets to protest against the lack of water, and this has been accompanied by the deployment of security forces and shooting at protesters. Izeh, Susangerd, Kot Abdullah, Shalangabad, Koy Alavi, Lashgarabad in Ahvaz, Mahshahr and Abadan are the main centers of the protests.
Videos and images posted on social media show scenes of special forces clashing with youth and protesters. According to local witnesses, a 16-year-old youth named Mohammad Abdullahi was shot dead in Izeh. The same sources said that another youth named Mohammad Mansour Karushat from the Thawreh neighborhood of Ahvaz, who had been wounded earlier, also died. There have also been conflicting reports about the killing of another youth in Izeh.
In one video posted on Twitter, a protester shouts: “Our demonstrations are peaceful, why are they shooting at us?” Anti-government slogans can be heard in most of the videos posted on social media. In this case, the slogan “Bakhtiari with the Arabs, unity is unity” has given way to the slogan “Death to Khamenei.”
On Tuesday evening, the city of Izeh was the epicenter of demonstrations, and security forces fired tear gas at protesters.
Ismael Bakhshi, a sugarcane worker from Haft Tappeh, wrote in a tweet: "All these security forces, special units, and agents of repression and counter-riots have poured into Khuzestan. I don't know if they are thinking of "water" for them or if they want to give the remaining water share of these protesting people to drink."
Ebrahimullah Bakhshi, a Gonabadi dervish and civil activist, posted a video on Twitter about people opening water from the Bani Sadr River/Canal in northern Ahvaz towards agricultural lands.
Local activists wrote on social media that the internet was temporarily cut off in Shadegan, Susangerd, Shush, and Shushtar on Tuesday evening. News about the protests is being shared on social media with the hashtag “Ana Atshan.”
Meanwhile, the Ahvaz Human Rights Organization has called for a rally in Brussels on Saturday, July 24, in support of the "Ahwaz protesters."
Meysam Al-Mahdi, a steel worker in Ahvaz, also tweeted: "They wanted to humiliate us, but we are not to be humiliated."
Iran's official and domestic media have either remained silent about the protests of the people of Khuzestan or are covering them in a filtered, limited manner.
The Fars News Agency reported that the Ministry of Defense has provided the governor's office with 10 water tankers to help supply water to water-scarce areas of the province. It was announced that these tankers will be dispatched to areas such as Ismailia starting Wednesday evening, July 20.
At the same time, the governor of Bandar Mahshahr announced the killing of a “relief unit officer” in the city, telling Fars: “Following the riots in Taleghani town, relief unit officers were targeted by rioters’ bullets from rooftops. One officer was martyred and another officer was wounded in the leg.”
Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, who is himself from Khuzestan, traveled to the region and said: "Protesting about problems is the right of the people, and demanding demands from incompetent managers is the right of the people of Khuzestan. Some managers do not deserve to sit in management positions that are the result of the blood of martyrs."
Source: DW
