Iranian retirees protested across the country again on Sunday, 4 April 2021, for the ninth time in three months and the first time since the new year, despite the increased repressive atmosphere that the regime is using to prevent dissent.
These rallies took place outside the social security offices of Arak, Ardabil, Abhar, Ahvaz, Gorgan, Isfahan, Ilam, Khorramabad, Karaj, Kerman, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Neyshabur, Rasht, Sari, Shush, Shooshtar, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Tehran, Qazvin, and Yazd, with pensioners chanting:
- “We have heard too many lies, we will no longer vote”
- “Threats and crackdown are no longer effective”
- “We have not seen any justice, we will no longer vote”
- “Parliament, Government, stop deceiving the people”
- “To overcome empty plates, we must take to the streets”
- “Until we obtain our rights, we will be here every day”
This is a microcosm for the feeling towards the regime amongst all of Iranian society, which is something that even Iranian officials and the state-run media have begun to acknowledge.
The former Urban and Roads Developments minister, Abbas Akhundi, said Sunday that the ever-rising inflation “burns people to their core”.
While MP Ahmad Alireza Beigy said: “People’s tables continue to shrink daily. If we do not find a solution, great damage will await us. The feeling of oppression among the people who lost their [life savings in] stock market, [people’s anger of] incidents, [such as] the fuel-price hike incident [November 2019 uprising], the rampant inflation, the long ques for oil and poultry, cannot be ignored. People will react at the right time,”, one of the regime’s, on Sunday.
The state-run Arman daily reported Saturday that inflation has increased by 35% in the past year, while basic goods have tripled in price. This means that the financial situation for workers is dire with unemployment increasing daily and even the employed unable to make ends meet. The paper warned that this will lead to an “explosion” very soon.
The Iranian Resistance wrote: “Protests by all walks of life in Iran reemerged in the winter of 2021, after a year of people’s battle with the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak. These daily protests demonstrate that the regime, with all its oppressive forces, cannot oppress protests because this will further enrage people and deepen their hatred toward the regime. On the other hand, if the regime does not respond, these protests will spread across Iran, which reminds the regime of the November 2019 uprising, which rattled the regime’s foundations.”
