The number of arrested Arab nationality residents protesting insult by the state TV in Ahwaz, has reached to at least 100. Two women by the names of Ayesheh and Khadijeh Neassi are among those arrested.
Some other detainees are identified as Adnan Khazraji, Mansour Tamimi, Khaled Mahawi, Mahmoud Beyt Siah, Saeed and Assad Navaseri, Mohammad Hezbian, 36, Mohammad Jalil Kanoun, and Sam Savari, 19.
Thousands of people took it to the streets in Ahwaz Iranian province protesting what they called the Iranian authority’s marginalization of Iranians of Arab origin and its efforts to erase their Arab identity.
Clashes with police broke out in various Ahwazi cities in protest against a cartoon TV show that used figurines to misrepresent various ethnicity in Iran. The segment completely ignored the Arab origins of the city and dolls symbolizing Ahwazi Arabs were nowhere to be found…
The videos on social media showed Iranian forces shooting live ammunition extensively in the air and another showed Iranian forces arresting several protesters as random shots being fired.
Ahwaz sources said that in the early hours more than 26 people were arrested, including three women.
According to activists, over the past decade Ahwaz has witnessed growth in non-Arab migration into their residential areas with government support, at the aim of disrupting the demographic composition and turning Arabs into a minority.
