The enraged flood-stricken residents in Ain 2 district of Ahvaz, the capital city of the oil-rich Khuzestan province poured into the street on Friday, April 12, to protest government's handling of floods and its failure to divert water into Hour Al-Azim marshes, reports on social media say.
Footage and images circulated on social media show hundreds of anti-riot forces deployed in the district. It is not clear if there were any incidents or not. The residents are calling for the diversion of the threatening floods toward the marshes, away from towns and villages.
In the past two days, many on social media have accused the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Oil of blocking the flood from flowing into Hour al-Azim marshes to protect oil facilities and installations from damage.
However, the Minister of Oil, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh has categorically denied the charges.
In this tweet the first video shows a large crowd in Ain 2 district of Ahvaz protesting.
Days earlier, images on social media showed violent clashes between the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Special units and people who either refuse to evacuate or protest diversion of water to farmlands.
IRGC's spokesman, Ramazan Sharif dismissed these reports as baseless, asserting that the Special Unit forces only use “verbal” persuasion to urge people to evacuate their homes.
One resident was reported killed and other injured.
Fars said authorities tried to persuade the villagers to evacuate their homes and allow the destruction of a flood barrier in return for compensation. It also said the barrier was removed later in the day.