Retirees Gather in at Least 16 Cities; Protesters Arrested in Tehran
Coinciding with protest gatherings of social security retirees in at least 16 cities across Iran on Monday, June 6, a number of protesters were arrested in Tehran.
As of the time this report was prepared, news had been received of retirees gathering in the cities of Karaj, Zanjan, Isfahan, Arak, Dezful, Shushtar, Kerman, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Rasht, Tabriz, Mashhad, Qazvin, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tehran.
According to the Free Workers’ Union of Iran, the gathering of retirees in Tehran, which was scheduled to take place in front of the Planning and Budget Organization based on a previous call, was met with a massive presence of security forces, who stationed themselves on streets leading to the organization to prevent the protesters from assembling.
According to this report, a number of retirees were arrested by male and female security forces and transported by several vans to an undisclosed location.
Based on released videos, protesters in Shiraz displayed their objections to their living conditions by carrying and displaying empty tablecloths.
In Tabriz, protesters chanted slogans such as “Death to Raisi” and “Death to the people-deceiving government.”
It has also been reported that as protesters moved in Tabriz, additional people joined the gathering and chanted protest slogans alongside them.
The main focuses of the retirees’ protests at Monday’s gathering, as before, were related to “proper implementation of wage equalization” as well as the government’s decision to increase pensions for non-minimum wage recipients by 10 percent.
Social security retirees are demanding an increase in wages equal to the actual cost of living basket, but the government has even violated the Supreme Labor Council resolution calling for a 38 percent increase for non-minimum wage recipients.
These retirees say that salaries at income levels other than minimum wage recipients were supposed to increase by 38 percent plus 515,000 tomans in the current year, but this law was rejected and according to reports, only 10 percent is being added to salaries, which is inconsistent with severe inflation in the country.
Retirees and pensioners, alongside teachers and workers in recent years, have repeatedly held protest gatherings to object to their living conditions and the government’s disregard for their demands, but most of these protests have been met with security crackdowns.
Source: Radio Farda
