Iranian security forces fired tear gas today to disperse demonstrators who had gathered in a village near the northern city of Rasht, to prevent the garbage from being dumped in the area.
The Saravan Rural District is used as a landfill site and has led to many problems for locals.
In the last two weeks, residents of Saravan village have been holding daily protest rallies to prevent unsanitary landfilling and dumping waste in the forested areas of the village. They prevented garbage trucks from entering the area.
According to local reports and videos shared on social media, from the beginning of today’s rally, protesters chanted peaceful slogans and some of them even gave flowers to the state security forces who later violently attacked the crowd.
Videos show convoys of security forces on their way to Saravan Village to suppress peaceful locals.
The rally turned violent after security forces fired tear gas and shot in the air to disperse the protesters.
Following the release of videos showing the violence against peaceful demonstrators, a police official announced today that the road to “garbage entering Saravan had been reopened” after several people were arrested.
The social deputy of the Gilan Disciplinary Command, Majid Rasoulzadeh announced that “based on the decision of the Gilan Security Council and the order of the judiciary, the garbage road to Saravan was reopened.”
Rasoulzadeh continued: “Several individuals were arrested and detained for trying to abuse the legitimate demands of the people and the current situation.”
Transfer and accumulation of waste in about 16 hectares of forest lands in Saravan region of Rasht, has become a major problem in this region for years.
The garbage has recently reached a height of more than 90 meters.
The head of the Rasht Municipality Waste Management Organization had previously said that with the daily entry of waste into the area, an average of 5.30 to 6.30 liters per second of leachate is made annually and enters the aquifers.
In addition to polluting the environment and creating an unpleasant odor, these leachates have polluted groundwater aquifers, affected livestock and poultry nutrition, polluted rivers, Anzali lagoon, and the Caspian Sea, polluted rice fields, and orchards. Furthermore, leachates have caused numerous problems including skin diseases in nearby areas.
