Iran: Workers, Toilers, Bazar Merchants, Retirees, and Looted People Continue Strikes and Protests Across the Country
In spite of repressive measures and a variety of government tricks to silence the people’s protest, the strikes and protests of workers, bazar merchants, retirees and looted people continued throughout the country on Tuesday, February 27:
1. On Tuesday morning, various groups of retirees, including educators, nurses, paramedics and retirees, gathered in front of the ministry of labor in Tehran’s Azadi Avenue. Groups of retirees from West Azarbaijan Province came to Tehran to participate in the rally. They chanted: “If there would be no robbery in the country, our problem would be solved”; they carried banners which said: “Iran’s retirees – United! United”;
In fear of the spread of this protest, the regime’s agents took the protesters inside the ministry. Ali Rabiei, Minister of Labor, Rouhani, former Deputy Minister of Intelligence, and Member of Parliament Soheila Jelodar Zadeh tried to calm them with rhetoric and deception. But the retirees booed them and interrupted their words by chanting “liars, liars”.
The rally took place while intelligence agents had summoned a number of organizers over past days and threatened to detain them to prevent the rally.
2. In Rasht, the people looted by the Caspian Institute gathered in front of the institute and chanted: “death to the thief”; “Larijani is a judge, but he is an accomplice of the thieves”; they threw egg at the glasses of the Caspian building and spread different colors. The repressive forces arrested three protesters. The day before, eight protesters were summoned to court for allegedly splashing color at the glasses of the institute, and one woman was detained for hours.
3. The strike of the workers of the Ahwaz Steel National Group continued for the eighth day. The workers spread the empty tablecloth on the street to show their dire livelihood situation.
4. The strike of shopkeepers, businessmen and marketers of Baneh and Piranshahr continued for the fourth day. The mullahs’ regime, with deceptive promises and also by putting pressure, plans to prevent this nationwide strike.
5. 450 workers from the Iran Frico Oil Products Company of Sirjan gathered in front of the factory on the seventh day of their strike and asked for their demands to be met.
6. The Ilam refinery workers gathered in front of the refinery in spite of heavy rainfall and continued to protest for the second day. They demanded that they their problems to be considered. They chanted: “Whether it snows or rains, we will wait”.
7. In Mahshahr, pipe production workers went on strike in protest of not paying their salaries for many months. Instead of responding to the problems of the workers, regime agents are trying to shut down the factory.
8. More than 200 high-voltage power station operators from all over Iran who had come to Tehran gathered in front of the Ministry of Energy. They object to the non-implementation of the plan to recruit the operator as a permanent worker. According to a plan approved by the Ministry of Energy in June, 1000 operators should have been recruited permanently.
9. Contract workers of Bushehr Sadra gathered in front of the company in protest of not paying six months’ salary and benefits.
10. Workers of the Omran-Suleh construction company in Tehran, who have received no salaries and benefits for months, went on strike.
11. Doctors in Darab (Fars province) set up a protest rally for the third day for non-payment of their salaries and benefits.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran