Protests have continued across Iran this week, with people furious over economic conditions that throw them into poverty.
On Monday, January 25, social security retirees protested their poor living conditions, caused by their pension status, outside the Planning and Budget Organization. They said that their pensions were lower than those of military retirees and that this should be equalled out.
While on Tuesday, January 26, retirees held protests in several cities across the country, including in Tehran, Karaj, Ilam, Mashhad, Ardabil, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Ahvaz, Neyshabour, Rasht, Arak, Isfahan, Tabriz, Khorramabad, and Sari.
In Tehran, they chanted, “We are fed up with this injustice”, while in Ilam they shouted “Retirees are awake and hate discrimination”. In Karaj, they chanted, “our baskets are empty, enough with hollow promises”.
These protests were organised in spite of increased repression from the regime’s forces because that is how desperate the retirees are. Unable to meet their expenses with their pension alone, many cannot work because they have illnesses or disabilities.
Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the retirees.
She said: “To end poverty, inflation and unemployment, one must only rise up and protest to overthrow the mullahs’ religious fascism and establish freedom and justice in our enchained homeland.”
Of course, it’s not just retirees who have been protesting. Nurses at Shiraz Central Hospital protested on Monday over hospital officials’ refusal to increase their wages, despite a Labor Ministry order.
The nurses said: “We are demanding wages’ increase and improving working [conditions].”
Also, on Monday, January 25, teachers in several cities held protests to demand answers from local officials.
Preschool teachers in Baghmalek, Khuzestan Province, protested outside the governorate building to demand job security and an immediate return to work. While contract teachers in Abadan, Khuzestan Province, rallied outside the local parliament office to demand their employment status be made official by the Education Ministry.
In Sirjan, Kerman Province, teachers gathered outside the education ministry’s office to protest their job status being in limbo, as well as demands on summer courses.
These economic concerns are being recognized by the state-run Iranian media as the biggest threat to the continuation of the regime, with the Vatan-e Emrooz warning that public outrage is only growing.
Meanwhile, the Aftab-e Yazd quoted a sociologist as saying that the people face more economic problems because of the coronavirus pandemic and that ignoring the people’s concerns will have “irreparable consequences”. The Hamdeli daily also spoke to a sociologist who said that it was too late to give people hope in the regime.
