Thousands of Ahwazi citizens demonstrated on Tuesday in front of the governorate building against the Iranian government’s policies toward the dust storms the province has been witnessing over the past week.
Ahwazi activists published images of the protest where Ahwazis expressed their anger at the regime’s policies toward the province, since the regime has played a major role in the desertification which began to spread in a lot of land, after drying out rivers and changing their direction to the central parts of the country such as Isfahan and Shiraz.
The protesters demanded the Iranian government to replace the province officials with others from the province itself, and not from other parts of the country. The Ahwazi protestors also expressed their dissatisfaction with the way the government has dealt with their daily problems such as drinking water, the enviromential situation and the terrifying rise of number of people with cancer, which is caused by the smoke produced by oil and petrochemical companies and the sugarcane project which has been taking place on Ahwazi citizens’ lands that had been taken by the government over the past decade.
President Hasan Rouhani has addressed Ahwazis through social media. He has admitted that the government and officials have not done enough to solve the problems of the province. He has also ordered all concerned authorities to provide all the necessary requirements to address the storm and reduce its damaging effects.
In addition, Seyed Hasan Hashemi, the Minister of Health, arrived to Ahwaz airport Tuesday afternoon and met with the ministry’s officials to discuss possible solutions for the environmental crisis.
