A massive crowd of locals in Abadan, southwest Iran, took to the streets on Wednesday night, May 25, in anti-regime protests triggered by the collapse of the city’s Metropol tower on Monday, May 23. Angry protesters were chanting slogans against the regime, local officials, and the corrupt contractor responsible for the faulty construction project that led to the tower crumbling down, leaving at least 16 people killed, 37 injured, and dozens still feared missing. State media is reporting that 34 of those injured have been dispatched and are recovering in their homes now.
Wednesday night saw protesters chanting slogans specifically targeting senior regime and local Abadan and Khuzestan province officials for their destructive policies and corruption that led to the disaster, and recent incompetence in providing necessary aid during the rescue effort.
The slogans included:
“Death to the dictator!” referring to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“Raisi, shame on you! Let go of the country!” referring to regime President Ebrahim Raisi.
“Mullahs get lost!”
“Our enemy is right here! They lie in saying it’s America!”
“I will kill those who killed my brother!”
“Incompetent officials are a disgrace!”
“Abadan locals may die but won’t live in shame!”
Abadan locals have been extremely angry toward the officials regarding the dismal rescue effort and the fact that authorities first dispatched anti-riot units to the city to quell any sign of protests after the incident. Most relief efforts have been carried out by volunteers with very little assistance from the government.
The protesters also rejected claims made by Abadan officials and state media about the fate of Hossein Abdolbaghi, the corrupt contractor and CEO of the company behind the Metropol tower construction.
Abdolbaghi is known for his ties to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Abadan’s mayor, and the regime’s security apparatus. By working with the IRGC, he managed to elevate himself in Abadan’s economy and curry favor with regime officials. This gave him leverage to obtain exclusive rights to construction tenders and an opportunity to plunder funds for projects, including the Metropol tower.
“It’s a lie! Abdolbaghi is not dead!” they chanted. Following the tower collapse, local Abadan and Khuzestan province officials initially claimed Abdolbaghi had been arrested. Later, state media were citing other regime officials as saying Abdolbaghi’s dead body had been found in the rubble.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the regime’s prosecutor general, said Abdolbaghi had been “certainly dead” and his body was found 24 hours after the tower’s collapse. These contradictory remarks have only raised all the more suspicion among Abadan locals, especially considering the regime’s long history of lie after lie.
State media aired a report showing a blurred image of a dead body with a mutilated face claiming it is Abdolbaghi’s corpse. It also showed images of what was claimed to be Abdolbaghi’s identification documents and cash in his pockets. Abdolbaghi’s family members were also brought to a local morgue before the cameras to identify his body, and they were seen weeping.
Locals in Abadan and others took to social media platforms debunking the regime’s claims, arguing the family members appeared to have been coerced into such a show and looked more like “low-class actors.” Others also said the belongings that officials claimed to have found in Abdolbaghi’s pockets were in very good shape and seemed nothing like those that would be recovered from the dead body of an individual who had been pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed ten-story building. Regime officials also failed to provide any DNA proof of their claims that Abdolbaghi had died in the incident.
Public distrust in the regime’s claims escalated further following remarks made by the representative of Khuzestan province in the Supreme Provincial Council that the former mayor of Abadan, who oversaw the inauguration of the Metropol tower, now has a post in the Investment Organization of Abadan Municipality.
Locals in Abadan are also reporting that regime officials have dispatched a large number of security forces and the city’s internet access has been heavily disrupted.
