Iran cutting off electricity, internet to gloss over Khuzestan protests
Protests have been raging on since July 15 on a daily basis in Iran's Khuzestan Province.
This
is particularly so in the southwestern city of Ahvas.
Ahwazis
are in a bid to obtain their rights and press the authorities to do something
to improve their economic conditions.
The
circle of popular protests in solidarity with Ahwaz gets wider in a number of
different cities.
Demonstrators
in the city of Saqqaz in the Iranian Kurdistan region blocked some roads.
However,
Iranian security forces faced this move violently and dispersed the
demonstrators.
Electricity and internet outage
Despite
the Revolutionary Guards' suppression of the protests, the demonstrators in the
cities of Ahwaz, Ma'shour, Khafajia and al-Falaiya maintained their protests.
The
Iranian forces confronted the demonstrations by cutting off the electricity, in
addition to launching massive arrest campaigns.
As
part of its efforts to obscure information about the demonstrations, the
Iranian authorities cut off internet services in Ahwazi cities.
This
led to a slowdown in receiving information about the demonstrations, in
addition to disrupting the daily lives of citizens.
Not the first
It
is noteworthy that this is not the first time the Iranian regime cuts off internet
services.
This
move is taken whenever Iran witnesses protests against the regime.
Iranian
authorities usually also suspend transport and stop financial transactions
throughout Ahwaz region.
In
the same context, the Persian version of the BBC website stated that some
officials attribute the malfunction to technical problems in the internet
service and the communications network.
However,
Net Blacks, which specializes in monitoring communications networks around the
world, observed that the internet service in Iran has seen a marked imbalance
since the protests began on July 15.