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Iran: 13th day of truckers’ nationwide strike reaches over 300 cities

Reported by PMOI/MEK

 

Iran, Oct. 6, 2018 – Trucker drivers and owners across Iran surpassed the 13th consecutive day of their brave nationwide strike on Friday, continuing to demand higher paychecks, lower prices for spare parts and tires, and authorities to start answering to their demands.

Over 300 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces are witnessing this strike.

People from all walks of life in Iran are voicing more support for the truckers’ movement.

A group of teachers in the city of Shiraz, south-central Iran, issued a statement announcing their support for Iran’s truckers.

 

 

 

Authorities are continuing their measures against this movement. In Arak, central Iran, police ordered the closure of a local drivers’ association after their members joined the nationwide strike. Truckers are showing bravery and refusing to succumb to any demands or threats raised by the Iranian regime’s officials and authorities.

The Transportation Union in the United States and Canada issued a statement supporting Iran’s truckers and condemning the Iranian regime’s refusal to recognize the dozens of truckers’ unions.

 

 

 

The International Transportation Federation also issued a statement expressing their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Iran. ITF also voices concerns over the reaction shown by the Iranian regime to the drivers’ demands, especially arresting over 100 drivers as they continue their nationwide strike and protest movement well into its second week.

Inside Iran, various syndicates representing bus drivers in Tehran, sugar cane workers in Haft Tappeh of southwest Iran, retired employees and teachers’ unions have all expressed their support for the protesting truckers.

The measures are seen from the police, security, and judicial authorities against the protesting truck drivers have been extremely harsh. Many protesting truck drivers have been apprehended and detained, and senior judiciary officials are even threatening to issue death sentences for the protesting drivers.

 

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Truck drivers continued their protests on Wednesday, marking the 11th consecutive day of this nationwide strike. This strike was witnessed extensive on this day, especially in the cities of Ilam, Yazd, Hamedan, Ahvaz, Zarrin Shahr, Abadeh Isfahan, Arak and Ghasre Shireen. This strike has currently reached 270 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

 

 

  

 

 

 

On Monday, nearly 200 truck drivers on strike were seen forming a large column in Asaluyeh in southern Iran.

As they sought to enter the city of Shiraz in south-central Iran, the regime’s security forces had already imposed roadblocks and sought to prevent their entrance. The drivers refused to give in, however and began to protest these measures.

 

This quickly transformed into clashes between the protesting drivers and the regime’s authorities.

 

 

Other reports from various cities indicate authorities have been seen taking off license plates of trucks belonging to drivers on strike. These measures, however, failed to cause any fear into the ranks of countless struck drivers on strike.

 

Oct 3-Lorestan, Dehkord, Truck drivers are on strike

Oct 3-Lorestan, Dehkord, Truck drivers are on strike

 

The nationwide strike of the truckers, entering its second week, is intensifying the crisis inside the clerical regime whose leaders are increasingly horrified from its continuation and spread. In this regard, Iranian regime attorney general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri is now threatening to execute the strikers.

 

"According to the information we have, in some routes, some of the cities, there are elements who are provoking some of the truckers, or possibly blocking them and creating problems for them. They are subject to the rules and regulations of banditry and the punishment of the bandits according to the law is very severe, sometimes resulting in the death penalty,” he said on September 29th as cited by Iranian regime state media.

 

Oct 3-Lorestan, Truck drivers are on strike

Oct 3-Lorestan, Truck drivers are on strike

 

At the same time, Ali al-Qasimehr, the chief justice of the Fars Province, accused the strikers of "corruption on earth," and IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Sharafi, one of the commanders of State Security Forces, threatened the protesters with harsh action.

However, two days earlier, the Fars Province Transportation Director-General had called the strike of truck drivers as rumors.

 "It's been a few days that rumors about truck drivers’ strike have been circulating in the media and cyberspace. This misuse of the opponents from the needs of the truck drivers to create a crisis in the country is clear for every Iranian,” he says, as reported by the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency.

IRGC Colonel Kavos Mohammadi, a deputy of the Fars provincial police force, described the strikers as "disrupters of the order." 

"Following the disrupting acts of some of these people on the roads of Fars … After the visible and invisible patrol of officers, 22 thugs and disrupters of public order on the roads were arrested and, after filing a case, they were sent to the judiciary authorities and through them to the prisons. Police will deal with sensitivity and vigilance with the smallest insecurity factors in coordination with the judiciary, and the process of confronting with the disrupters of order and security of the roads and axes of Fars province will continue on a daily basis. The police monitor and control all the roads in this province, visibly and invisibly, and resolutely deal with all elements of disrupters of order and security in these areas," he explained to the regime’s official IRNA news agency.

 

 

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the strikers throughout Iran, describing the vindictive threats of the clerics against the dignified and hardworking drivers as a reflection of the growing crisis of the clerical regime, and said that the ruling mullahs were the biggest thieves in the history of Iran, and that they neither want nor can respond to legitimate demands of striking drivers. 

She called on all human rights organizations to take action to release the arrested and urged the general public, especially the youth, to support the strikers. She added that realization of these demands is only possible with the establishment of democracy and people's sovereignty. A regime that threatens to execute its working people due to a strike must be rejected by the international community.

Strikes and protests across Iran are heading towards a final and determining end that is very near in sight. Launching their third round of strikes, truck drivers across the country are demanding what is rightfully theirs.

The mullahs’ regime ruling Iran, however, has always resorted to bogus promises and lacks the capacity to live up to the drivers’ demands. We are entering the stage where the commoners can no longer tolerate the regime and the rich few lack the capacity to take any action.

The truck drivers’ last round of strike was witnessed during the July/August period. In these September strikes, 157 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces witnessed truck drivers joining this strike on only the second day of this latest round of protests. This movement expanded to 210 cities on the fifth day of protests on Thursday and the country’s main loading stations are reported to be closed down.

Latest reports indicate fuel truck drivers working in refineries in cities such as Tabriz, Kerman, Bandar Abbas, Arak, Kazerun, Qazvin, Sari, Ahvaz, and Abhar are joining this nationwide movement. Truckers in Karaj, west of Tehran, also announced their solidarity and vowed to remain on strike until their demands are met.

 

Oct 4-Tehran, Iran-Truck drivers continue on strike

Oct 4-Tehran, Iran-Truck drivers continue on strike

 

The state-run IRNA news agency cites Jamal Hamidi, director of the loading station in Bandar Khomeini of Khuzestan Province (southwest Iran) saying, “On Sunday, most truck drivers at the loading station went on strike. While 2,000 trucks are active in this loading station each day, only 300 accepted to load any goods on Sunday.”

 

Oct 5-Marand, Iran-Truck drives are seen joining the nationwide strike

Oct 5-Marand, Iran-Truck drives are seen joining the nationwide strike

 

 

It is worth noting that the drivers righteous and necessary demands and the suffering they undergo has gained the attention and support of international organizations for their strike and protests.

The truck drivers’ protests signal the potential of the entire Iranian society to rise in protest against the regime. This wave of protests will not be stopped and will only continue to grow.

We are in a period that the poor will no longer tolerate the status quo and the rich few can’t do anything. These protests, each resembling a center of anger and demands for change, are signaling an end to the ruling mullahs’ regime.

 

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