Iran: new protests against water shortage and drying up of Zayandeh Roud river

Photo released by Fars: Protest in Isfahan, on the dry bed of the Zayandeh Roud river, November 19, 2021 © Hamidreza Nikoomaram / Fars News Agency via AP

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1 min

New protests were organized on Friday, November 26, 2021 against the water shortage and the drying up of the Zayandeh Roud River, which runs through the historic city of Isfahan in central Iran.

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With our correspondent in Tehran,

Social media is filled with videos showing townspeople protesting in the dry bed of the Zayandeh Roud River.

Already, last Friday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated peacefully in the center of Isfahan.

But unlike last week, riot police intervened violently to disperse protesters on Friday.

According to state media, a police motorcycle was burned and an ambulance was attacked by young protesters.

The riot forces used tear gas extensively, and charged the crowd on motorcycles, or with batons, to disperse the protesters who were slogans against the government.

Similar protests have taken place in the neighboring province, which is also affected by water scarcity.

The drought, unprecedented for 50 years, affects all regions of the south and center of the country.

According to state television, the dams built upstream of the river that crosses Isfahan have reserves of drinking water for only three months for the inhabitants of the city, but no water for agriculture.

This is what provoked these increasingly violent protest movements.

► To reread: In Iran, major demonstration in Isfahan after the drying up of the Zayandeh Roud river

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• Iran

• Water