Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, May 24, 2020—Iranian regime security forces on Saturday, May 23, opened fire on a group of villagers of Gheyzanieh in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, as locals were protesting major shortages of drinking water in their homes. Their gathering was held on a road linking the cities of Ahvaz, Ramhormoz and Omidiyeh.
It is worth noting that Khuzestan Province is currently one of the hardest hit coronavirus epicenters in Iran and the number of new cases is rising in an alarming fashion. Conditions are very humid and dust storms have already made life very difficult for the locals. Thus, shortages in drinking water is literally placing their lives on danger.
May 23 – Gheyzaniyeh, near Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Locals blocked a road during their protests against the lack of running water in their homes. These harsh conditions are enforced on this population as the province is witnessing a major #coronavirus crisis. pic.twitter.com/6oC6SBrIpf— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 23, 2020
The mullahs’ regime considers any such protest as a possible spark for a new series of protests and possibly an uprising. As a result, local authorities immediately dispatched security forces to crackdown on the locals. State security units responded to the protest by opening fire, injuring at least four individuals.
The regime’s official IRNA news agency wired a report on Saturday covering the locals’ demonstrations and protests, and regime officials launching a crackdown against such legitimate demands. “The police chief in Ahvaz said people in Gheyzanieh near Ahvaz protested their officials’ negligence regarding providing drinking water. They blocked the Ahvaz-Ramhormoz-Omidiyeh road and police units entered the scene to end the disruption,” the report reads.
“After police units attempted to reopen the road the protesters began throwing stones and sticks at our agents. Two members of our police unit suffered head injuries,” Colonel Dalvand claimed. “The police used anti-riot plastic pellet guns. Two of the protesters suffered injuries,” he added.
Iranian regime Health Minister Saeid Namaki said on Saturday, “We are witnessing new escalations of this illness in warmer climate provinces… The status quo is not good in Khuzestan Province (southwest Iran bordering southern Iraq) … We have had discussions with the governors of Khuzestan’s neighboring provinces, including Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari and Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed, and we have issued warnings about a new spread of the illness… There have been cases in Sistan & Baluchistan Province (southeast Iran), in the village of Najafabad near the city of Khash, and this sounded an alarm bell for us,” he said on Saturday, May 23, according to the state-run Hamshahri daily.
“Khuzestan Province remains a red area,” said Health Ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpour on Saturday. “The number of cases is far higher than one percent of the entire population… More scientific testing is needed… In Iran, such studies have yet to be conducted. However, as the Health Minister said, the number of cases in our society has yet to reach the ten-percent mark,” Jahanpour added, according to the state-run Moj daily.
