Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 22, 2019—As the Iranian regime is entangled with a growing list of global crises and escalating isolation, protests are also escalating in cities across the country.
A group of Iranians disabled from the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s rallied on Saturday, September 21, in the city of Rasht, northern Iran, protesting a decision by authorities to end their medical pensions. Most hospitals are no longer willing to provide health care to these individuals.
In Ilam, western Iran, a group of locals living in utter poverty rallied outside the mayor’s office to protest Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to cut-off millions of Iranians from monthly cash handouts.
#Iran: At least eight protests were organized on February 5
At least eight protests were organized on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 in Iran. The municipality workers of Abezhdan city in Khuzestan province and Towhid city in Ilam province, the shareholders of Caspian financial… pic.twitter.com/WMFiQON7Ne— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 6, 2019
In Tehran, the capital of Iran, a group of people who had placed down payments to purchase cars rallied outside the regime’s judiciary branch to protest the state-run companies’ refusal to deliver on these promised cars.
In the town of Sisakht in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmad Province, southern Iran, municipality workers rallied on Saturday outside the municipality building, protesting and demanding their paychecks that have been delayed for the past six months.
In the current circumstances as the new school year begins on Monday, September 23, across Iran, these workers are worried about not being able to provide the expenses of their children going to school. The municipality has no plans to pay these workers’ delayed paychecks.
The most important issue facing the Sisakht municipality is the subject of paycheck delays for the workers, one regime official acknowledged. Currently, the workers are facing harsh conditions after not receiving their paychecks for the past six months, he added.
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Earlier this month, a group of customers of Azico, the vehicle manufacturer of Azerbaijan province, gathered in front of the headquarters of the ministry of mining and commerce and protested to not having received their purchased vehicles.
The customers, who had purchased the vehicles in advance, have still not received their purchases. Azico is one of several Iranian vehicle manufacturers that has declined as a result of the endemic corruption that plagues the Iranian regime in its entirety. Other companies such as Iran Khodro and Saipa have also absorbed the funds of customers in presales without delivering their vehicles.
In Yazd, a group of residents of Rezvanshahr protested to the lack of municipality and municipality services in this city. The protesters say regime authorities have promised time and again to provide them with the proper services and set up an official municipality for them, but have effectively taken no concrete steps to fulfill their promises.
A group of customers of Tabriz’s endowment directorate held demonstrations in front of the governorate in protest to not having received ownership of the lands they have purchased. According to the protesters, the Iranian regime’s air force has confiscated the lands they had purchased from the endowment 28 years ago.
The workers of HEPCO, Iran’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, marched in the streets of Arak, where the company is based, and held a demonstration in front of the local offices of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (Parliament) members in the city. The workers are protesting to not having received their wages for a long time and not having job security due to the policies of the company’s private owners.
The workers of HEPCO held similar protests on Saturday in front of the company’s facilities.
Regarding the corruption of regime officials and their associates in HEPCO, one of the protesting workers said, “Why are authorities fighting us? I’ve reached a moral conclusion and I’m not afraid of anyone. We go to the police station and make our claim, and we realize the police chief is on the side of the thieves. We go to court and make our claim, and we realize that the judge is on the side of the thieves. Why did they sell the factory for 10 million [tomans]?”
HEPCO is one of several large and fundamental Iranian companies that have fallen victim to “privatization,” an utterly corrupt process in which the regime sells major public assets to private investors with close ties to regime officials, usually at very low prices.
On Saturday, a group of workers of oil and gas company Rampco held demonstrations in front of the governor’s office in Ahvaz. The workers are protesting to not receiving their wages for more than six months.
The workers of the company have been regularly protesting to their low wages and poor work conditions and the abysmal payment terms. They held similar protests in May.
The workers of the sugar cube factory in Fasa, Fars province, held demonstrations in front of the entrance of the factory and protested to not having received their wages for several months. The workers had previously protested to lack of job security after the factory was forfeited to private owners. Most of the workers of this facility have been working at the sugar cube factory for more than 20 years and are aged over 50. If the factory shuts down, they will have no other source of income.
According to regime officials, the factory is in a state of quasi-shutdown.
