On the 18th day of Isfahan protests, videos are circulating on social media showing “special forces” (anti-riot) attacking farmers’ tents. The protests in Isfahan started on November 8, with a group of farmers gathering in front of the regional water company and the building of the Isfahan IRIB (Radio & TV). These protest rallies were widely supported by other factions of the society and led to sit-ins and protests around the clock in the dry bed of Zayandeh Rud.
According to reports published online, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic stormed a rally of citizens in the Khajou Bridge area of Isfahan at around 3:00 AM on Thursday, December 25, 2021, firing bullets and tear gas, setting fire to tents set up on the riverbed.
In one of the videos, the cameraman reports that special forces tore up Khamenei’s photo and destroyed every property. The destruction of public and private property by the regime’s law enforcement forces in response to widespread protests to justify acts of violence and killing has become a model in the Islamic Republic. This time, we are witnessing the repetition of the same method in dealing with the protests of the people of Isfahan.
The use of violence against the protests in Isfahan began yesterday; After the Isfahani protesters called for “unity and solidarity” with the people of Khuzestan and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces. The streets of Shahr-e-Kurd yesterday were the scene of widespread protests by the residents objecting the water transfer project of IRGC mafia, specifically: Khatam al-Anbiya base. The regime is afraid of unity among people. For this reason, it has brutally suppressed the quite peaceful protests. People have come for “water”:
In another video, protesters resist against the violence of armed forces:
Meanwhile, the IRGC media, Fars News Agency, in its report this morning, in clear contradiction with the images and videos published on social media, attributes the burning of tents and the use of violence by the special unit against Isfahani protesters to the people. Fars’ report refers to the protesters as “thugs” and writes about the arrest of several citizens last night: “In a timely fashion, the police who have been providing security to the people in Zayandeh Rud riverbed in the past 2 weeks, thugs were arrested.”
Users on social media report internet disruption in Khajou Bridge area. The regime, in its inability to solve people’s problems, seems to have resorted to violence and intends to repeat the crimes we know of in the face of all protests that have taken place so far:
- Destruction of property by repressive forces
- Violence and brutal treatment of protesters
- Internet disruption and shutdown
- Dissemination of false news by affiliated media
- Attributing popular protests to “enemies” and “thugs”
- Massacre and repression, detention, torture, forced confessions and….
Translation of this post by Sahar.
