The voice of thirsty Khuzestan protesters resounded yesterday morning, July 20, 2021, at Sadeghiyeh subway station in Tehran, on the protests’ sixth consecutive day since its beginning in several cities of the province on the evening of Thursday, July 15,
Tehran residents in support of Khuzestani compatriots shouted “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Death to the principle of Velayat-e-Faqih (Supreme Leader)”, and pointed the arrow of protests towards the root and principal of environmental disaster in this province and water shortage, inflation, high prices, poverty, corruption,…not only in Khuzestan but every corner of the country, and at the same time expressed their solidarity with the protesting Khuzestan residents. These slogans gave a new quality to the protests. They created a turn in the theme of people’s demands and the protests, the echo of which inspired the protesters in Izeh, the easternmost city in Khuzestan province, the same evening shouting: “We do not want the Islamic Republic, we do not want it! Reza Shah, God bless your soul! Reza Shah, we’re sorry! IRGC be ashamed, leave our country alone! And death to Khamenei!” For this very reason, the regime’s oppression was also of a new quality in Izeh yesterday: more terrifying than the previous days, more violent, bloodier, more cruel, more brutal, and closer to the “Islamic Republic” character! This level of violence was not specific to Izeh. In other parts of Khuzestan province, including Khorramshahr, Ramshir, Ahvaz, Dezful, Mahshahr, Behbahan, Kut Abdullah, the protests, according to citizen journalists reports, and videos posted on social media, turned violent yesterday. Just videos and photos of the clashes during the protests in these cities, due to widespread disruption in Internet in these areas, found their way to social media later than Izeh.
According to local sources and civil activists, several citizens lost their lives during yesterday’s protests. In the videos posted online, regime police officers are seen shooting at people, firing tear gas at protesters, and the sound of machine gun fire can be heard. Fars News Agency, the news agency affiliated with the terrorist IRGC, in an article published yesterday, while confirming the use of military weapons against citizens in the protests, described the shootings at people as “to take care of the protests and people’s demands.” As a result of this “care”, many citizens have been injured or killed so far. Fars News Agency, however, in a piece published a few hours ago, denied that protesters were killed during yesterday’s brutal crackdown in Izeh. Meanwhile, the regime’s Radio and Television station (IRIB) has confirmed one person was killed by gunfire during yesterday’s protests in Izeh. Fars News quoted Hossein Nabovati, the acting governor of Izeh, describing the situation in the city as “normal” and “protests last night were due to water shortage problems”: “Yesterday, some citizens complained about water shortage in the city and with empty barrels of water demanded a solution to their problem. Following the rally, law enforcement officers who were present at the scene spoke to the citizens with the utmost calm and composure and asked for calm.”
A scene from the tearful “calmness and sobriety” of law enforcement officers:
On the sixth day of the protests, with Izeh and Behbahan joining the protesting cities, the process of spreading the protests, which began in Ahvaz / Hamidiyeh, the western part of the province, is now passing east and north of the province less than a week later over Khuzestan borders and spread to other cities. As they expand geographically, the nature of the demands and the political quality of the protest, as we saw last night in Izeh, become more diverse and radical. The protests are becoming more subversive. On their way, they take the pains and cries of tribes, clans and people of other regions of this homeland and shout in the streets:
«ندری برصاص ایجابلنه،
احنا الشهاده التوگ.»
(We know you stand against us with bullets and guns, but dying for freedom is our ultimate wish.)
The regime has felt the horror of its downfall. In Tehran, since last night, the Islamic Republic armed forces have been showing off their oppression tools in crowded parts of the city. Khuzestan knows today, knows well, that it is not alone. The regime is alone, in Iran more than in the world!
Translation of this post by Sahar.