‘Death to the dictator’: water shortage protests reach Iranian capital

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Water protests reached the streets of Tehran on Monday as anger grows over water shortages and a lack of basic services. 

Scores of angry protesters gathered on the capital’s Jomhouri street chanting against the government, and specifically the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Video footage on social media showed protesters chanting “this land will not be a homeland until the clerics are buried.”

Other videos show people chanting “death to the dictator” and “neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran” referring to Iran’s armed activity elsewhere in the Middle East, with others calling on Khamenei to leave the country.

The deputy governor of Tehran told the semi-official ISNA on Monday that the reason for the protests was due to an electricity outage in a passage near Jomhouri Street.

Iran’s southern Khuzestan province has seen a week of protests over severe water shortages, with several people killed in a crackdown by security forces. Demonstrations have also broken out in neighbouring Lorestan.

Khuzestan is home to an Arab minority that has complained of discrimination and marginalization. The province used to have ample water resources, but a government scheme to redirect the water to elsewhere in the country coupled with droughts has left the province with a severe shortage of water. Water levels in the province’s dams are down by as much as half.

On Friday, Khamenei said the protesters’ complaints are “legitimate.” He criticised government failures to address water management in Khuzestan and said the administration of president-elect Ebrahim Raisi should “seriously attend to this issue” when it takes office in August.

Iran has seen disrupted internet connection amid the protests, and rights groups have accused Iran of using “excessive force” against protesters.

Earlier this month, Iran suffered extreme electricity outages, driving President Hassan Rouhani to issue a public apology to the Iranian people.

The apology came two days after videos circulating on social media showed people chanting against the government and supreme leader during a blackout, saying “Death to the dictator, death to Khamenei.”