Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, May 5, 2019 – A group of families of workers and teachers arrested in Tehran by the regime’s repressive state security forces during Labor Day Protest and Iran’s Teachers Day gathered on Saturday in front of the capital’s notorious Evin Prison to demand the release of their loved ones. They sought information on the whereabouts of the detainees. However, the response from the prison authorities was muted, keeping the protesters outside the prison in dark.
On Wednesday, a large number of workers and plundered investors rallied on the occasion of Labor Day outside the mullahs’ Majlis (parliament) to demand their stolen savings returned. They were seen holding placards and heard chanting slogans including, “Workers, Teachers, Students, Unite, Unite” and “High costs and inflations are plaguing the people,” “The government is betraying and the Majlis is supporting”, “Your pain is our pain, Join our ranks,” among other slogans. Those demonstrations were against the regime’s anti-workers and anti-teachers’ policies.
On May Day, state police raided and arrested dozens of the demonstrators after beating and harassing them. The crowd was heard chanting, “Schmuck, schmuck” to the regime agents who were beating the protestors.
Many others also came to the aid of protesters chanting, “Don’t be afraid, we are all together.”
In a statement issued by the office of Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi, she hailed the protesting workers and demonstrators calling on the public, especially the youth to their support. The head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) also urged the condemnation of the mullahs’ anti-worker policies by international bodies in defense of human and workers’ rights and asking for urgent action to release those arrested.
Insisting that the usurped rights of workers would be restored by a struggle against the totality of the anti-worker regime, Mrs. Rajavi added: “In spite of pressures and the mullahs’ anti-worker policies, workers and toilers of Iran will neither rest nor surrender. They have shown as much with their protests and uprisings over the past year. They can rely on the ongoing support and solidarity of women, youth, students and all the disenchanted sectors of the Iranian society. “
Also on Thursday, in a nationwide protest, a large number of teachers and education workers rallied to mark Teacher Day. These demonstrations took place in dozens of cities from 18 provinces in Iran.
They also were heard chanting, “Your pain is our pain, people join us” and “Workers, teachers, unite, unite.” The presence of women in these demonstrations was astonishing.
In Tehran, marking Teachers Day, teachers and education workers gathered in front of the regime’s Ministry of Education in the capital. They were carrying handwritten placards reading: “Imprisoned teachers must be freed, imprisoned workers must be freed.”
Many teachers and workers who rallied on May 1 and May 2 were arrested by the state repressive forces and sent to Evin Prison, while women were transferred to the notorious Qarchack Prison.
