Demonstration at Central Bank in Protest Against ‘Embezzlement and Inefficiency’ in Currency Exchange System
A group of protesters gathered in front of the Central Bank of Iran on Sunday afternoon, June 15th. The protesters stated that “inefficiency and embezzlement” in the currency exchange system has resulted in their financial losses.
Based on images and videos circulated on social media, protesters called for the resignation of Abdolnasser Hemmati, the Governor of the Central Bank, and the shutdown of the currency exchange system.
Reports have also emerged of security forces stationed around the Central Bank, which is located in central Tehran.
Some of the slogans chanted at the demonstration included “Hemmati resign, resign,” “They closed the factories, they closed our hands,” and “Hardworking worker, caught in the struggle.”
Iran’s currency market has had at least three exchange rates since April 2018: the official exchange rate known as the 1400 toman dollar, the currency exchange rate which is currently approximately 15,000 tomans per dollar, and the free market rate where the dollar has exceeded 18,000 tomans.
The “Integrated Foreign Exchange Transaction System,” or simply “NIMA,” was established according to the Central Bank to create a secure environment for buying and selling among importers and authorized exchange dealers.
Several months ago, reports of embezzlement in this system were published, and protesters on Sunday stated that they had deposited money in rials for months but had not received foreign currency in return.
However, the Tasnim news agency and several conservative-leaning websites called Sunday’s demonstration “suspicious” and defended Abdolnasser Hemmati’s performance.
An hour after the gathering, the Central Bank also released a new list of recipients of government foreign currency and the NIMA system.
Economic hardships and the dissemination of multiple reports about discrimination and widespread corruption in recent years have sparked various protests in different Iranian cities.
These protests, which have included participation from various sectors including farmers, bazaar merchants, and other urban guilds, have mostly been met with suppression.
The December 2017 protests initially began with the slogan “No to inflation,” and the spark for the November 2019 protests was the tripling of gasoline prices. Both protests were suppressed violently.
The Islamic Republic has not released any official report on the statistics of these two protests; according to various sources, more than 50 people were killed and approximately 8,000 were arrested in the 2017 protests, and according to Reuters, the 2019 protests resulted in at least 1,500 deaths. However, Iranian authorities deny these figures.
Recently, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s Interior Minister, implicitly stated that between 200 and 225 people were killed in the November 2019 protests, with 80 percent of them killed by organizational weapons.
Mojtaba Zolnour, head of the National Security Commission of the tenth parliament, also stated that approximately 230 people were killed during these protests.
Source: Radio Farda
