Drought in Iran: protests continue in Khuzestan province
Partial view of a street in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province in southwest Iran.
AFP - ATTA KENARE
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
For the third night in a row, a dozen cities in the oil province of Khuzestan, in the southwest of the country, experienced demonstrations against the shortage of drinking water and water for agriculture.
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With our correspondent in Tehran,
Siavosh Ghazi
Rich in oil, this province bordering Iraq has a large Arab minority.
During these protests, at least two young people were shot dead.
According to the authorities, they were hit by bullets fired by rioters, but on social networks the police are accused of being responsible.
Violent demonstrations causing hundreds of deaths had already taken place, especially in this region, in November 2019 after the rise in the price of gasoline.
The water scarcity has made the situation explosive in this sensitive region, as Majid Nasserinejad, a local deputy at the Parliament rostrum, said: “
The president must come and give an account for the situation in Khuzestan province. the population, to explain how he caused this disaster in the country. What is this management? The situation is turned upside down for the inhabitants, their cattle have been wiped out, their lives have been destroyed, they have lost everything they had
. "
A drought unprecedented for fifty years hits Iran with a 50% drop in rainfall.
Likewise, over the past twenty years, many dams have been built in this region for power generation, but the drought is causing both water scarcity and power cuts when it is over 50 degrees in the shade.
The inhabitants of this oil-rich region feel that they have been left behind by the central power.
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Read also:
In Iran, repeated power cuts make the lives of residents impossible
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