September 06, 2019
Two people were killed and four injured in a clash be-tween local residents and armed Air Force guards at an air base in Mazandaran province.
The local residents were protesting the Air Force seizure of a plot of local land.
Media in Iran reported August 10 that a clash took place in northern Mazandaran province around an Air Force base during which at least two people were killed, and four others wounded.
The Fars news agency quoted local sources as saying August 10 that the clash started over a dispute about land ownership in the Mahmudabad region.
The state news agency reported that security forces at the base opened fire on the residents and government employees who were trying to enforce a court decision taking the land away from the Air Force.
The state news agency said a court in Mazandaran had ruled that lands occupied by the Air Force around a village should be handed back to the residents of the area.
The military prosecutor in the province said several military personnel had been arrested for opening fire on civilians, but wasn’t clear if those arrested included officers who authorized the shooting or just the enlisted men who did the actual firing.
Fars says that the land parcel in question is 6,000 square meters (around 66,000 square feet), which is about half again as large as a US football field.
The ISNA news website said the clash happened as people “attacked” the base to “disarm” soldiers and reached the base’s runway.
Photos showed earth moving equipment at the site, suggesting local officials and the residents were trying to tear down walls or fences surrounding the disputed land.
