Iran Riot Police Grapple With 'Water Protesters' in Isfahan

ALBAWABA - Protests in the Iranian city of Isfahan continued their toll on Friday. Media reports covered the protests at length, saying people are demonstrating against the lack of water because the main  Zayadneh Rood river that feeds the city has simply dried up. 

Demonstrations have been rife with much riot police who arrested around 67 people. "We have arrested 67 of the main actors and agitators behind the troubles," police General Hassan Karami said Saturday as reported by AFP. He added that between 2,000 and 3,000 "rioters" took part in the protest.

However reports on the social media stated that at least 100 persons were wounded because of attacks by "regime troops" and that up to "300 have reportedly been arrested and detained during the protests."

Demonstrations in Isfahan which is about 340 kilometers south of Tehran and is a tourism destination due to its mosques and heritage, have been going on since 9 November against the drying up of the river that has inevitably caused a drought in a country that reputedly has lots of water. 

As well, the city is an agricultural land with between 30,000 and 40,000 farmers and city residents taking part in the protests against the government. The protesters accuse the authorities of diverting the Zayadneh Rood water to the nearby province of Yazd, which is also desperately short on supplies, the French news agency reported. 

Meanwhile the social media has reported the latest protests at length through comments and video clips and hashtags like (#IranRiseUp, #Isfahan) and riot police using water cannons to diperse demonstrators. 

Riot police were spread riding in the city on motor bicycles with batons as by shown by  the clips. However a couple of things that were said on the social media were rather interesting. These included the fact that:

One said that many of the Iranian security forces used to quell Friday's protests were not even Iranian and maybe even from Afghanistan belonging to the Iranian trained "Liwa Fatemiyoun" militias and which itself raises and eyebrow. 

Another is that fact that  Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has praised the “bravery” of the people in a series of tweets.