May 20, 2022
field is long that has been festering (and growing) ever since the revolution.
Dozens of furious protesters in a northern Iran village chanted slogans and hurled rocks at police April 28, Iranian media reported, injuring five officers over frustrations that their village had become a massive waste dump and health hazard.
The protest was over yet an other issue, one of many agitating the public. But the major protests in recent weeks have been by teachers all over the country seeking higher pay. Police tried to stop a planned set of May Day teacher protests all over the country by arresting known organizers in the days before. But the teachers weren’t intimidated.
As for the trash protest, security forces dispersed the gathering and detained several protesters, referring their cases to prosecutors in the town of Saravan in northern Gilan Province, the Fars news agency reported.
The villagers have been staging protests in recent weeks in an attempt to pressure authorities to cease dumping trash there after four decades. Footage circulating online in recent weeks has shown protesters blocking trash trucks from reaching the collection site. Authorities have long promised to open an incinerator in the area, but have yet to take action.
Saravan, with a population of 10,000, is located on one of the roads linking Tehran to tourist destinations on the Caspian coast. Locals say the trash dump is now 95 meters (300 feet) high and contains the waste collected from Rasht and seven other Gilan province cities.