Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, January 26, 2020—On Sunday, taxi drivers of Pakrou Sabz Qeshm Co. held a protesting gathering in front of the company’s offices in Tehran. The protesters chanted slogans against the regime’s authorities including “Death to corrupt officials.” The Iranian regime’s agents began taking films from the protesters. This is one of the ways that intelligence agents intimidate protesters to prevent them from holding and joining rallies. In many cases, the regime imposed penalties against those protesters whose faces were captured by the agents in protest gatherings.
From the capital to western Iran in Marivan, seasonal workers of Shaygan Mehr Apadana Co. protested their nine-month overdue wages. The protesters gathered in front of the regime’s governorate after their demands were ignored by the regime about a week ago in their rally in front of the Sanandaj governorate, in the capital of Kurdistan province.
Also on Sunday, protests erupted at the South Pars Oil Industry in southern Iran. 350 workers of the regime’s 14’th phase of Pars 2 in the city of Kangan blocked the entry gate of the facility. They protested their four-month overdue wages.
The 14th phase of Pars 2 was previously under control of the terrorist-designated Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), which has been a cause for further problems for the workers. The IRGC is notoriously renowned for squandering the country's resources on terrorist and weapons-development projects, putting a heavy strain on the economy and the workers.
Pars is one of Iran's key facilities in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry. The Pars Special Energy Economic Zone is in Bushehr province alongside the Persian Gulf. Pars zone is divided into three zones. Pars 1 is in the city of Asaluyeh, Pars 2 is in Kangan and Pars 3 (known as Northern Pars) is including the cities of Tangestan, Dashti, Bushehr, etc.
Unpaid wages have become a common reason for protests in the past years. Workers, teachers, and government employees from across the country have been constantly demonstrating unpaid and months-delayed salaries. In nearly all cases, the regime has either responded by cracking down on the protesters or complying with a mere fraction of their demands.
Moreover, on January 25, bus drivers of the so-called Khomeini Harbor struck in protest to their low wages and the high price of bus spare parts. The bus drivers accused the regime’s authorities of their empty promises.
The transport of over 5,500 employees and workers of Khomeini Harbor and the petrochemical industry is relying on these bus services.
