Iranian police shoot at water shortage protesters

Iranian police have fired on people protesting against water shortages.

At least two people have died during several days of protests.

Video showed officers shooting at demonstrators on Sunday night in Susangerd, the centre of the unrest in Khuzestan province, in the southwest of the country.

Footage showed riot police on motorcycles firing at protesters. In one clip, a police officer fires a pistol into the air. At least one other shot can be heard.

As in past protests, the authorities appear to have blocked internet connections to stop video footage coming out of the region.

A local network-monitoring service said severe internet disruptions were recorded in Tehran and there was a near-total shutdown in Khuzestan.

Iranian media reported that two people had been killed in the protests.

They were identified as Mustafa Naimawi and Qassem Khuzeiri.

On Sunday, Khuzestan’s deputy governor in charge of security affairs acknowledged that at least one person had died.

The state-run Irna news agency quoted Valiollah Hayati accusing “rioters” of killing a citizen in the city of Shadegan.

Iran’s government has often blamed protesters for deaths during clashes.

Ayatollah Mohsen Haidari, a senior cleric representing parts of the region, told Iran’s Fars news agency that “criminal people, affiliated with foreigners and counter-revolutionaries, have abused the people’s demands and shot at them and killed innocent people”.

Mr Haidari said he believed the demonstrators’ demands and concerns over water shortages were legitimate but called on them to act with “care, insight and vigilance so as not to create any grounds for the enemy to abuse them”.

Since the late 1980s, disputes over water in Khuzestan have led to protests and small-scale conflicts.

There have also been clashes between the government and separatists in the ethnically Arab region.

The area, which once had large expanses of wetland and was considered to be prime agricultural land, has become arid as a result of droughts, dam construction and oil extraction.

A dam built in 2018 on the Karun River reduced the water supply by two thirds.

Water scarcity in Iran is not limited to Khuzestan.

Authorities say the country is experiencing a severe drought that has left dams with dwindling supplies.

The government and judiciary have instructed various groups to address the problem.