DUBAI: Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that 230 people have been poisoned by drinking polluted water in the county’s southwest.
The report Sunday quoted Shahrokh Refaei, the head of crisis management in Khuzestan province’s Ramhormoz county, as saying the polluted water came after a 20-hour water outage.
Refaei says that the water wasn’t treated with chlorine, causing the poisoning.
People in the country’s oil-rich Khuzestan province have protested over water scarcity since Friday. The demonstrations initially were peaceful, with protesters chanting in both Arabic and Farsi.
But late Saturday and into early Sunday, protesters began throwing stones and confronting security forces in the city of Khorramshahr. Officials say one person was wounded.
Online videos appear to show Iranians protesting water scarcity in the country’s south and being shot at by authorities.
Videos emerged early Sunday of the demonstrations around Khorramshahr, some 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Tehran.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported that protesters threw stones and debris at police, who responded with tear gas. It did not mention the gunfire.
The protests overnight come after three days of demonstrations in Tehran, including protesters confronting police outside parliament and officers firing tear gas at the demonstrators. The rallies led to the temporary closure of the city’s Grand Bazaar.
The unrest comes as international firms have pulled away from Iran after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
