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Pensioners and retirees resume protests in Iran

By Mahmoud Hakamian
protest rally pensioners shush khuzestan province
Pensioners of the Iranian regime's Social Security Organization resume their protests in Shush, Khuzestan province—June 18, 2023

Pensioners and retirees of the Iranian regime’s Social Security Organization held protest rallies in several cities on Sunday. Gatherings were reported in the cities of Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Ardabil, Shushtar, and Shush. Protesters were chanting slogans against regime authorities and institutions who have caused the deterioration of their living conditions.

In the past few years, retirees across Iran have been protesting to their deteriorating living conditions, especially as the government refuses to adjust their pensions based on the inflation rate and fluctuations in the price of the rial, Iran’s national currency. The price of most basic goods have spiked severalfold while pensioners continue to receive the same stipends as before.

On Sunday, protesters in Ahvaz were holding placards that read, “We will only get our rights in the streets” and “Neither the government nor the parliament care about the people,” indicating their frustration with regime authorities continuing to deny their demands and rights.

Protesters in Shush were chanting, “Pensioners’ [monthly] wages are only enough for one week!” They also chanted slogans against the regime’s state-run broadcasting organization, which censors news of protests and spreads false news about the regime’s economic policies.

In Kermanshah, retirees held a similar rally and chanted, “We will not stop until we get our rights.” The protesters also demanded the regime to implement its own laws for adjusting pensions based on inflation. “No more promises and games, implemented the adjustment law!” they chanted.

Other slogans chanted by the retirees included:

“Enough with the promises, our tables are empty!”

“High prices and inflation have turned people’s lives into misery!”

“Inflation is breaking people’s backs!”

In Shushtar, pensioners rallied in front of the local offices of the Social Security Organization and reiterated their demands. The protesters were chanting:

“Retirees will die but won’t give in to disgrace!”

“If we remain silent, we won’t get our rights!”

“Incompetent minister! How much longer do we have to put up with the current situation?”

Protests rallies continue as people throughout Iran 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.

On Saturday, protests continued in several cities. In Tehran, the students of Tehran Art University continued their protest rallies following a new wave of restrictions and repressive rules implemented by the regime.

According to activists, plainclothes agents attacked the students’ rally and arrested at least 10 students. The arrestees were carried away in a van without a license plate. Special forces were also present at the scene.

Security forces also barred other students from entering the campus to prevent the protests from expanding. Videos from around the campus show security forces lined up to counter student protests.

Also Saturday, locals in Sarableh, Ilam province, gather in front of the governorate in protest to the arrest of six people a few days earlier. According to reports by activists, the six arrestees were abducted by security forces for political activities. The protesters declared on Saturday, that if the prisoners are not released, there will be a general strike in the city on Monday.

Nightly protests were reported in at least one district of Tehran on Saturday. In Chitgar, the locals were chanting “Down with Khamenei!” in defiance of the regime’s efforts to create an environment of terror.

A new round of nationwide protests began in Iran 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, 2022, 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.

Protests that began in September 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. People continue to take to streets despite the regime’s repressive measures and new wave of executions.

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Retirees hold protest rallies in several Iranian cities
Mahmoud Hakamian
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