Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, June 30, 2020—Unrest is growing across the country as reports indicate people from all walks of life holding protest gatherings and rallies demanding what is rightfully theirs.
A group of workers in the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company, located in the city of Shush in southwest Iran, continued their strike for the sixteenth consecutive day on Tuesday, June 30, protesting not receiving any answers to their raised demands. This rally was held outside the Shush governorate building. The protesting workers are demanding delayed paychecks and pensions, their job statuses being clarified, the company status finalized, all their expelled colleagues be allowed to return to work, cancellation of plans to hand over the company to regime insiders under the pretext of “privatization” and their insurance booklets being extended.
Municipal workers in the city of Bushehr held a rally and went on strike on Monday protesting not receiving their paychecks for the past four months and not receiving their promised new year bonuses (due on March 20 based on the Iranian calendar new year Nowrouz).
“I truly don’t understand what kind of supervision these members of our city council actually have. They have literally abandoned everything. You don’t need to do anything for the city. At least provide the paychecks of municipal workers. We are even weaker than the everyday workers seen here and there in this city. This is how they treat workers that are literally cleaning up our city. Today I heard workers were on strike for not receiving their paychecks and new year bonuses. They had every right to protest. [Officials] don’t need to do anything in this city. Just see to the demands of these people. Each month they do something against these poor workers. We need to evaluate their paychecks and only then we realize how troubling the situation actually is,” said one civilian participating in the rally.
In the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, operators of the Hormozgan High Voltage Sites rallied outside the regional Electricity Department in this province demanding quick action to have their job statuses clarified immediately.
Participants in this rally protested recent promises by the regime’s Labor Minister to change the status of “yellow-cap” workers to permanent employees, saying local officials are delaying necessary measures and not providing any answers. In the past few weeks employees of other high voltage sites in various provinces have also held similar rallies, demanding answers and actions regarding their jobs.
Nurses protest in Gilan province
A group of nurses in Gilan province, northern Iran, rallied in Parastar Avenue in the city of Rasht outside the head office of the Gilan Medical Sciences University on Monday, protesting university officials’ refusal to live up to their promises regarding their job statuses.
As protests continue in different Iranian cities, state-run news outlets are warning against the possibility of nationwide protests re-emerging.
Mostaghel daily wrote on July 28: “We’re passing another year with back-breaking rent prices, shared homes, grave-dwelling, tent-dwelling, and sleeping on rooftops.” Mostaghel warned that a large part of the population is “incapable of providing their basic needs” while “four-percenters are getting fatter every day,” a reference to the four percent elite who are living lavish lifestyles at the expense of the people. Mostaghel concluded by warning that these two groups will eventually confront each other, “and in this confrontation, the loser will not be those who have nothing to lose.”
Aftab-e Yazd wrote on July 29: “When the people have nothing to lose, they will let go of life itself. Something must be done before the situation gets worse.”
Hashem Hashemzadeh Herisi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, warned, “The current situation of the society is unbearable. The distance between the people and the establishment grows every day… The situation is very critical. We can’t sit by and let the establishment die.”
