Central District (Ahvaz County)
The Central District of Ahvaz County () is a district (bakhsh) in Ahvaz County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 1,187,340, in 251,482 families. The District has one city: Ahvaz. The District has seven rural districts ("dehestan"): Anaqcheh Rural District, Elhayi Rural District, Esmailiyeh Rural District, Gheyzaniyeh Rural District, Kut-e Abdollah Rural District, Mosharrahat Rural District, and Soveyseh Rural District.
Arab Spring concurrent incidents
In Iranian Khuzestan, according to Saudi "Al Arabiya", Lebanese Yalibnan, the Guardian, there were large scale protests, declared as "Day of Rage" by Ahvaz Arab minority, in the city of Ahvaz – capital of the Khuzestan province, and the nearby town of Hamidieh. The protests marked six years since the violent 2005 Ahvaz unrest. The protesters were "demanding more rights and humanitarian benefits", as well as independence. The Revolutionary Guard Corps used tear gas to disperse the demonstrations, while using live bullets in some neighborhoods. Al-Arabiya reported that when the protests began, the city was blockaded by Iranian security forces, who "broke up demonstrations by force" and that "15 people from Ahwaz have been killed and dozens have been wounded". The Guardian puts the casualty rate at 12 dead Arabic-speaking Sunnis, based on Shirin Ebadi's letter to the UN.