People from all walks of life in different cities across Iran held protest rallies on Saturday, standing their ground firmly in the face of a new wave of executions. This included protests and rallies by farmers in Iran’s Markazi (Central) Province, students in Tehran’s Khajeh Nasir Toosi University, and workers at a natural gas site in Isfahan Province, among others.
As Sunday marks the 234th day of Iran’s nationwide uprising, people throughout Iran continue to specifically hold the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and paramilitary Basij units, alongside other security units that are on the ground suppressing the peaceful demonstrators.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 675 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Brief on Iran Nationwide Uprising- Saturday, May 6, 2023 #IranRevoIution #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/o3ijphIEFI
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 7, 2023
The mullahs’ dictatorship ruling Iran, with deep concerns about a new wave of protests and nationwide uprisings, has been engaged in a new wave of mass executions during the past week. At least 44 inmates, including 23 members of Iran’s Baluchi community, were hanged from April 29 to May 5. Sixteen of these executions were carried out on May 4th alone. The international community needs to take urgent action against the mullahs’ regime for their four decades of crimes against humanity.
NCRI statement: Iran: Execution of 12 Baloch Compatriots, Including Two Women, in Four Days#IranRevolution https://t.co/T9vy1Bmtly
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 3, 2023
Members of the Iranian opposition MEK Resistance Units network inside Iran have launched a new campaign of anti-regime measures in numerous cities throughout the country. This latest initiative is focused on the slogan of “Down with oppressors, be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”
These measures have been taking place in the capital Tehran and other cities, including Karaj, Shiraz, Shahr-e Babak, Rasht, Zanjan, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Shadegan, Langarud, Gonbad-e Kavus, and Kish.
Pensioners and retirees of the regime’s Social Security Organization in the cities of Shush, Arak, Ardabil, and Kermanshah are holding rallies and marching on Sunday, protesting high prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions and officials’ refusal to address their demands.
Pensioners and retirees are among the worst-hit segments of Iran’s society. They depend on government stipends to make ends meet, but the regime has refused to increase their pensions in correspondence with growing inflation and the depreciation of the national currency.
The government has long provided many hollow promises of increasing pensions. It was also supposed to settle unpaid pensions remaining from previous years. So far, it has yet to deliver on both demands.
Interestingly, the regime’s own media reported that The Social Security Investment Company (SHASTA), the financial institution that is supposed to fund retirees, has seen a significant increase in its profits in the past years. However, these profits have yet to materialize in the lives of pensioners and retirees.
May 7 – Shush, southwest #Iran
Retirees and pensioners holding a protest gathering outside the regime's Social Security Organization branch demanding their rights be respected and acknowledged.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/j4mCXgJIZL— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 7, 2023
Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls Chamran Technical School in Shahrekord, southwest Iran, on Sunday, leaving a number of the students poisoned and in need of urgent medical attention.
Medical personnel in the city of Qazvin are holding a gathering on Sunday protesting and demanding their delayed pensions be provided for. They also want their full rights respected and acknowledged by regime officials.
Personnel of the local emergency medical teams in the city of Tabriz, northwest Iran, are holding a gathering on Sunday protesting their low paychecks and poor living conditions.
May 7 – Shahrekord, southwest #Iran
Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls Chamran Technical School. A number of the students were poisoned..#IranChemicalAttacks pic.twitter.com/91wS2EhQScpic.twitter.com/AUNpI40Ior— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 7, 2023
Locals in the Shahrak-e Bagheri district of the Iranian capital Tehran were chanting anti-regime slogans on Saturday night, including:
“Down with Khamenei!” in reference to regime dictator Ali Khamenei.
Brief on Iran Nationwide Uprising- Saturday, May 6, 2023 #IranRevoIution #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/o3ijphIEFI
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 7, 2023
On Saturday, a group of residents from Jalmajerd village in Markazi province, central Iran, held a protest rally in front of the regime’s governorate building of Khomeyn county. The protesters were demanding their rightful access to irrigation water. Access to water has become a major contention point in the region, as regime institutions divert water sources to projects that benefit their interests at the expense of farmers and other people in need of water.
In Isfahan province, central Iran, a group of orchard owners held a protest rally to raise their unmet demands.
In Tehran, a group of students and education activists held a protest rally in Khajeh Nasir Toosi University as authorities have refrained to answer their demands.
May 6 – Khomeyn, central #Iran
Residents of Jalmajerd village hold rally in front of Khomeyn governorate, protesting lack of access to irrigation water.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/v9SyFRHHLo— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 6, 2023
Other reports indicate that the regime continued to target schoolchildren in its serial chemical gas attacks. On Saturday, in Marivan, Kurdistan province, regime agents targeted two all-girls schools, Mab’ath and Om ol-Mo’menin. Several students were taken to the hospital after being exposed to poisonous gases.
May 6 – Marivan, north-west #Iran
Regime agents stage chemical gas attacks against two all-girls school, Mab'ath and Om ol-Mo'menin#IranProtests2023 #IranChemicalAttacks pic.twitter.com/SNNdiw6G0p— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 6, 2023
Labor protests and strikes that began in the past weeks continued on Saturday. In Isfahan province, central Iran, workers of the Ardestan Gas Compressor Station stopped working and joined the nationwide strikes. In Zanjan, northwest Iran, railway workers held a protest rally to raise their demands, including the payment of delayed wages.
May 6 – Ardestan, Isfahan province, central #Iran
Workers of the Ardestan gas compressor station join the nationwide strikes#IranNationwideStrikes #اعتصابات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/tHNxAXRqYK— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 6, 2023
The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.
She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.
May 6 – Cologne, Germany
Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the #Iran opposition PMOI/MEK rallied in solidarity with #IranRevolution.#No2ShahNo2Mullahspic.twitter.com/wGBYTq9TOE— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 6, 2023
