In the past week, many protests have spread greatly across Iran as reports tallied by the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have shown. People from all walks of life have come together for a mutual cause, to fight for their rights and freedom.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “These protests are due to Iran’s economic woes, an unbearable situation caused by the regime’s corruption, ineptitude, mismanagement, and the squandering of national wealth on its malign objectives.”
Wednesday, March 2 saw several protests across the country. In Tabriz, northwest Iran, private sector healthcare workers held a demonstration outside of the governate to demand their pay checks that have been delayed for six months, while in Lorestan province, employees of the provincial Electricity department protested and demanded full contracts, equal payment and job security.
In Tehran, defrauded creditors of the Badran Gostaran financial institution, and the Money King Currency institution took to the streets to demand their money. Both institutions were embroiled in Ponzi schemes for years, but as they are owned by regime officials and officials of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), they have been protected by the regime’s impunity.
On the same day, people in the village of Baneh-Abbasin in Khuzestan province joined a rally outside of the local Judiciary branch to demand justice after their houses, vehicles and agricultural wells were set ablaze by unknown assailants. Regime officials have neglected to act despite the villagers making many complaints, leading locals to suspect that the regime and its officials are to blame for the incidents.
The NCRI said, “In another development on Tuesday, family members of the victims of the PS752 flight held a rally in front of Ukraine’s embassy, expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemning the war of occupation. These protesters, who had lost their loved ones when the Iranian regime downed a Ukrainian passenger jet in 2020, underlined that, unlike the Iranian regime officials, they are standing by the Ukrainian people. The Iranian regime’s thugs attacked these protesters and brutalized them.”
Sunday saw a rally held by the defrauded creditors of the Amitis Company who were demanding the repayment of their life savings which the company have been fleecing for the past four years. The same day, creditors of the Negin Khodrow and Airthobia automobile factories were urging officials to hold the companies’ officials accountable for plundering their money and not giving them the vehicles they had purchased.
The nationwide rally organized by pensioners of the country’s social security organization continued for another weekend to protest their poor living conditions and meagre pensions which barely cover their basic expenses. Also, Iran’s contracted teachers have continued their protests to demand equal pay.
The NCRI said, “The ongoing demonstrations across Iran are the broadest display of discontent and society’s explosive state since the major 2019 uprising, which rattled the regime’s foundations. The outpouring of anger is directed not only at the regime’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who has been promising to revitalize the economy, but also the mullahs’ supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.”
Since Raisi came to power last year as the regime’s president, the number of executions in Iran, along with the number of attacks launched on peaceful protesters have seen a dramatic rise. However, society has yet to be dissuaded by the violent crackdowns on dissent.
On March 1, the Hamdeli daily stated, “In many cases, protesters have experienced violent measures instead of officials addressing their demands. This, according to experts, has not only failed to stop the protests but also increased social criticism.”
