Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 11, 2021—Water and sewage workers in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province gathered in front of the provincial governor’s office on Wednesday and protested the government neglecting their demands. These workers have held protest rallies several times before and are saying that during the hard times imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, they are hard pressed to provide the most basic needs for their families.
One of the workers said, “We’ve just gathered here for our rights. Authorities have promised time and again to solve our problems, but they’ve done nothing. What have our families done to deserve the problems caused by the mismanagement and bad policies of the water and sewage organization’s officials?”
On the same day, water workers in Ahvaz held a protest rally in protest to not receiving their salaries and bonuses for three months.
Protest rally by water workers in Ahvaz
On Tuesday, workers of the national electricity company held a demonstration in front of the Majlis (parliament) protesting their unpaid salaries.
The protesters are also demanding the implementation of the work status law, the adjustment of salaries and bonuses, and the elimination of government-linked middlemen and contractors who are stealing their salaries.
Protest rally by electricity workers in front of the Majlis (Parliament)
On Wednesday, a group of student of Tehran’s Alameh Tabatabaei University held a demonstration, protesting to the regime’s killing of the people of Saravan, Sistan and Baluchestan province. The students planted saplings in solidarity with the Baluch people and in memory of the martyrs.
Protests began in Saravan, near the Iran-Pakistan border, after the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) opened fire and killed fuel porters in Saravan county. Images and videos posted on social media showed dense presence of IRGC forces along with heavy artillery and tanks. For many of the impoverished people of Sistan and Baluchestan, transferring small amounts of fuel across the border and selling it to customers has become the only means of earning their keep and supporting their families. The reason they live this way is more than four decades of regime corruption and discrimination against the Baluch minority. The regime’s security forces attack and kill them regularly under the pretext of fighting smuggling.
