A report on the fourth day of uprisings in Khuzestan province in protest against the water crisis; Security forces opened fire on the protesters
19-July-2021
Category: ethnic minorities
19-July-2021
Newsgroup: Ethnic Minorities –
Breathing in Confinement: The protests in Khuzestan province against the water crisis continued on Sunday, July 18, 2021. People gathered in the cities of Shush, Susangerd, Malachieh, and Ahvaz. Their peaceful protests, however, were dealt with by the gun-toting security forces who opened fire at them. As of Sunday morning, large numbers of counterinsurgency forces were deployed to Khuzestan from neighboring provinces, such as Lorestan. According to the recently released photos and videos, security forces opened fire at unarmed protesters, wounding and killing some.
So far, the news of the killing of two protesters, Qassem Khadiri, 17, from Kut Abdullah, and Mustafa Naimawi, 30, from Shadegan, has been confirmed by the authorities of the Islamic Republic. Unconfirmed reports, however, reveal that more protesters have been killed.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the fourth night of peaceful protests in Khuzestan, was violently dealt with by the security forces who opened fire at unarmed protesters.
The uprisings began on Thursday, July 15, which quickly spread to at least 19 cities in the province. According to the news, internet has been shut down in some parts of the province and the landline and mobile phone networks of some of the operators have also been disturbed.
Last night, the young protesters in Susangerd confronted the security forces with empty hands by burning tires on the roads.
The released videos show the security forces firing real bullets at people. Following the spread of the uprisings, and after many citizens were wounded or arrested, Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, member of parliament from the City of Shazand, and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, tweeted:
“I say implicitly, be extremely careful about the events in Khuzestan! It seems like a conspiracy. If possible, supply the whole water to Khuzestan to quench the thirst and to put out the fire.”
Even though Haeri, member of the Assembly of Experts from Khuzestan, confirmed that two young protesters have recently been killed in Khuzestan, the governor of Khuzestan denied the news and attributed it to the “opponents of the regime”. He said: “Recently, they have spread false news and videos of three people being killed in the province, which is absolutely false and baseless.” He, ignoring the ongoing uprisings in the province over the last 4 days, added: “The province is now completely calm.”
On Sunday, on the sixth day of their strike, the workers of Haft Tappeh factory, marched and chanted slogans in support of the protests in Khuzestan.