More protests spread across Iran

BY: Hassan. Mahmoudi

During the past few months More protests spread across Iran, from its southern cities to the capital, protesting the weak economy, inflation, unemployment, unpaid salaries, water shortages, and their grievances. The protesters have shouted severe slogans against authorities and their policies. Sharp Drop in Iran’s Economic Growth Rate has been forecasted in November when US will target Iran’s oil export.  

There is a continuous stream of reports of further protests in cities across Iran.

On Monday Oct. 22,  A group of PhD students in Tehran rallied on Monday outside the Iranian regime’s parliament protesting the difficulty to find jobs.

Students of Amir Kabir University in Tehran also rallied on Monday, protesting the college officials’ incompetence.

Truck drivers who went on strike in May for higher wages restarted their strike last week. The strike has affected fuel deliveries, leaving some gasoline stations empty in parts of the country, including Caspian Sea areas north of Tehran.

Youths in Behbahan, southwest Iran, rallied at the Friday prayer site again this week, protesting being unemployed while authorities are hiring non-locals to work in a nearby refinery.

In Shushtar, southwest Iran, municipality workers held a rally outside the city hall on Monday demanding their paychecks that have been postponed for the past six months. These protesting workers say that prior to the Dec/Jan period, all Shushtar municipality employees were working under the city’s official authority. However, against the workers’ will and opinion, they were suddenly placed under regime officials’ authority under plan pretexted as a privatization measure. Their paychecks have been delayed ever since they added.

Varzaneh is an ancient central Iranian desert town in Isfahan province, it is famous regionally and all over the world for its spectacular desert which has been inhabited for 5,000 years

Oct. 22, 2018 Hardworking farmers of Varzaneh held a rally protesting the Iranian regime’s plundering policies and not receiving their share of water for their lands.

Oct. 23, 2018 – More than 70 political prisoners are on hunger strike in Urmia (Urmia is the 10th most populated city in Iran) Central Prison despite pressures and hollow promises provided by the prison authorities. These political prisoners have now been on hunger strike for over a week now.

On Sunday, a large number of these political prisoners’ families held a rally outside the facility demanding authorities responding to their loved ones’ demands.

To end this as the Iranian regime faces new and escalating crises with each passing day, more people from all walks of life are seen holding protests in numerous cities throughout Iran.

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate, specializing in political and economic issues relating to Iran and the Middle East.