Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 12, 2021—Regime authorities in the town of Kuhestak of Hormozgan province in southern Iran opened fire on a number of fuel traders on Friday, leaving two Baluchi community locals killed and injured. In response protesters took to the streets and clashed with authorities in the port of Kuhestak. The regime’s security forces opened fire on the protesters, leaving a third protester injured with a gunshot wound to his leg.
Angry over authorities opening fire on local fuel traders, people have expanded their protests to various parts of this town and even set several police patrol boats on fire. People were still in the streets in the afternoon hours and the atmosphere is reported to be very tense. Reports indicate several other protesters have been injured as a result of the security forces opening fire. One report indicates anger is escalating among the local population, leaving authorities extremely concerned and already scrambling to cut-off or severely slow internet connections to prevent reports of this incident from leaking to the outside world.
March 12 – Kuhestak, southern #Iran
Marine police opened fire on fuel traders, leaving two killed & injured. Outraged locals began clashing with the police & authorities opened fire on the protesters, leaving one injured. Protests expanded & locals set authorities’ boats ablaze. pic.twitter.com/OLhWEjru6t— People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 12, 2021
Reports indicate that the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are dispatching supplementary forces and anti-riot units to the port of Kuhestak.
Informed sources are reporting that a man by the name of Mr. Shah-resan Raisi was the fuel trader killed by the regime’s maritime police. He suffered a direct gun shot wound to his head and died.
Just recently Saravan and other numerous cities in neighboring Sistan & Baluchistan province were scenes of protests and clashes among locals and security forces after the IRGC opened fire on fuel traders at the Iran-Pakistan border. Over 40 civilians were left killed and several dozens injured by the regime’s forces who opened fire on their rallies.
“Child sales (due to poverty) have reached catastrophic point”
The growing number of nationwide protests is a manifestation of widespread anger in an oppressed and looted society in which “child sales (due to poverty) have reached catastrophic point and retirees and low-income employees have removed meat, poultry, and fruit from their diet,” according to the state-run daily Arman on March 6.
This is the disastrous situation of a country that, according to the Iran Daily website in June 2015, is “one of the most important holders of minerals in the world with 68 types of minerals, 37 billion tons of proven reserves and more than 57 billion tons of potential reserves worth $770 billion in 2014 and is among the 15 largest mineral-rich countries in the world.”
