IRAN: Kurdish teachers stage their fourth protest gathering

On Thursday, May 14, teachers of Kurdistan held their fourth protest gathering. They are protesting unfair wages and prejudice in the educational system.

This gathering in Sanandaj was held in front of the governor’s building. Teachers protested their difficult living conditions and the unresponsiveness of the educational system regarding their grievances. They stated that they are just given hollow promises.

On May 7, teachers and educational system employees had staged protests in Tehran and cities throughout Iran complaining about their difficult livelihood.

Teachers’ protests took place while Khamenei had paved the way for a crackdown on teachers’ protests by emphasizing on May 6 that “the teachers are cognizant of enemies’ conspiracies and the adversaries of the Islamic system that wish to instigate problems for the system and give seditious, strategic and political slogans under the pretext of teachers’ livelihood”.
As the protests expanded, the suppressive forces resorted to threats and arrests to rein in the protests.

In the past days and weeks, a number of teachers have been arrested and families of imprisoned teachers have been threatened.