Iran: report on continuing strikes and protests across the country

                  

- Reports from Tehran’s bazaar indicate that on Saturday, May 31st, the area was very vacant.

“Tehran’s bazaar has become a ghost town. Most of the storeowners, like me, are offering to sell their shops. The storeowners’ daily anger has made them seriously mad,” said a protesting storeowner.

- Metal retailers located south of Tehran closed their stores and joined the strike launched by Tehran’s Shad Abad metal bazaar.
They went on strike on Saturday, May 31st, protesting the tax extortion imposed by the mullahs’ regime.

- Following the strike of gold retailers in various Iran ian cities, a number of gold retailers in Shahr Kord, Farsan, Saman and Brujen announced a strike starting of Saturday, May 31st, joining the nationwide gold retailers strike. It is said it’s possible that metal retailers and construction raw material suppliers will also join the gold retailers’ strike.
Prior to this the gold retailers of Isfahan and Tabriz had also gone on strike. Today, bazaar merchants in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Najaf Abad, Tabriz and Shahr Kord are on strike.

- Tabriz gold retailers are continuing their strike against the mullahs’ tax extortion, recent reports indicate. They began their strike on Saturday, May 17th, and have refused to open their stores ever since. One of the bazaar merchants said the gold retailers will continue their strike until the increasing taxes are revoked.
This strike coincides with the strike of bazaar merchants in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Najaf Abad and many others.

- Workers and employees of the Iran Tire Company staged a rally in the vicinity of this company. This gathering was held with the workers and employees protesting irregular expulsions, decreasing wages and pensions for the workers, not providing workers’ paychecks, decreasing retirement pensions from two months to one month, and a 50% increase of working hours from 8 to 12 hours a day.

- Over 300 expelled workers of the Mobarake Steel Complex rallied on Friday, May 30th, coinciding with a deputy minister visiting the site. The expelled workers staged this gathering outside the complex site.
Repressive police units viciously attacked the protesters right before the eyes of the deputy minister.

- 450 workers of the Sanandaj ‘Azad’ dirt dam went on strike protesting not receiving their paychecks for the past 4 months. The workers of this dam rallied on Tuesday and Wednesday, demanding their delayed salaries.
The ‘Azad’ dirt dam is located in the Banir village near the city of Sanandaj.

- According to reports received from Isfahan all gold retailers in this city continued their strike on Saturday, May 31st, continuing to keep their stores closed. The gold retailers are protesting the lowering prices of gold.

Iran: Dozens of strikes and protests in cities around the country

Labor strikes and protests, as well as protests by other deprived strata of the society continue in cities around the country in order to attain their rights usurped by the mullahs’ regime. Some of the protests on Thursday, May 29, are as follows:

In Tehran, a strike by around 3000 steel sellers continued for the fourth day in protest to mullahs’ regime extortion through taxes. The laborers and the employees of Iran Tire Company also staged a protest in the factory lot against the expulsion of a number of workers, reduction in wages, and an increase in the working hours from 8 to 12.

In the city of Najafabad, since May 24, the butchers have also gone on strike in protest to extortion through taxes and still refuse to open their shops.

In Isfahan, the strike by stone cutters continued for the sixth day.

In the city of Bafq, a strike by 5,000 iron miners in protest to privatization of this mine entered its 12^th day. Laborers of factories and production centers in the country who under the pretext of privatization are plundered by government officials and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are not paid wages or dividends for long times and many are fired from work.

In the city of Shahr-e Kord, 1,000 bakery owners went on strike to protest an increase in the price of flour. The sandwich shops are closed. Last month, the price of one ton of flour jumped from 380,000 to 540,000 rials.

In the city of Behbahan, mullahs’ regime functionaries were forced to pay the delayed wages of municipal workers after the laborers’ protest of several days.

Similarly, on May 28 in Ahvaz, a number of contract workers assembled in front of the Governor Building. In fear of the spread of this protest move, the intelligence and security elements have encircled the protestors.

On the same day in the city of Hemedan, a number of communication staff assembled in front of the office of the head of province of Hamedan’s communications to protest that two months of their wages have not been paid.

On May 27 and 28, in the city of Sanandaj, 450 laborers of Azad dirt dam went on strike to protest delayed wages of four months.