Iranian Writers Association: People’s Protests Are Result of Explosion of Public Anger Against Islamic Republic
The Iranian Writers Association, condemning the massacre of protesters in Zahedan and the suppression of people’s and students’ protests, described the “freedom-seeking movement of the Iranian people” as resulting from an explosion of public anger over “the destruction of citizens’ lives over four decades of Islamic Republic rule.”
The Iranian Writers Association stated in a statement released on Thursday, referring to the Islamic Republic’s confrontation with public protests: “The government, as always, has resorted to suppression; it has killed many, abducted many, tortured many, and imprisoned many. However, the people have not backed down and have conveyed their voice of protest to the world by every possible means.”
The Writers Association’s statement emphasized, “The people who in recent decades participated in protest movements of women, workers, teachers, retirees, writers, students, religious, ethnic, and gender minorities to express their demands, and were each time suppressed separately, have now realized that achieving their goals is only possible through solidarity and collective struggle, as well as achieving freedom of expression, whose blatant and daily violations over the past four decades have been the basis for all kinds of government suppression.”
The Writers Association stated, “Calling the aroused people ‘rioters’ and attributing their protests to foreign countries is a blatant lie and a flimsy excuse for the continuation of the government’s corruption.”
The association emphasized that the Islamic Republic government uses such pretexts to “break the sanctity of universities and open their doors to security and police forces and plainclothes agents” in order to “silence the voices of protesting students and abduct hundreds of them” and “to have a pretext for the massacre of people in Zahedan.”
The Iranian Writers Association, condemning “the massacre of the people of Zahedan,” “the Black Friday of Zahedan and the entry of security forces into university premises,” considered them two sides of the coin of the Islamic Republic’s organized policy of discrimination and suppression.
Protests over the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini have entered their third week in various Iranian cities. Armed and security forces of the Islamic Republic have attempted to suppress anti-government demonstrations “extensively” with “deadly force” during this period. Reports from human rights organizations indicate that dozens have been killed in these protests so far.
No official statistics have yet been released on the number of victims in the recent protests in Zahedan. This comes as Amnesty International announced on Thursday, in a report, that at least 82 Baloch protesters and ordinary people were killed in street protests in the city.
The human rights organization stated that Iranian security forces during a violent crackdown following Friday prayers on October 30 in Zahedan, by shooting bullets and tear gas at protesters, spectators, and worshippers, unlawfully killed at least 66 people, including children, and wounded hundreds: Since then, 16 others have been killed in separate incidents in Zahedan amid ongoing suppression of protests.
Source: Radio Farda
