NCRI – A large number of Isfahan bazaar merchants and youths arrested following the value-added tax law ended up in ward "D" of the city's prison, according to the Resistance sources in Iran on Tuesday.

The bazaaris have occupied all solitary confinement cells in block D in the central city of Isfahan maximum security prison. Ward "D" is the equivalent of the dreaded ward 209 of the notorious Tehran's Evin prison which is run by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).  

The new prisoners have not been able to establish minimum contact with their families.

Isfahan bazaar was the first in the country to go on strike over the new regulation. The bazaars in other major Iranian cities followed suite.

Merchants went on strike over value added tax (VAT) regulations imposed by the mullahs' regime in Tehran, central city of Isfahan, southern city of Shiraz, holy city of Mashhad and Qazvin, some 170 km northwest of the capital.
 
On October 7, the fourth day of the strikes, more than 3,000 protesting shopkeepers closed down their businesses and marched to the governor's office in Isfahan.
 
The merchants demonstrated in Enqelab Square, Char-Baqe Abassi, Isfahan's main bazaar as well as Bahonar, Hendiha, Alameh, Masjed-Jame, Sabzeh-Meidan, Sepah and Qeysarieh bazaars as well as home appliances of Moshir Square, reported the state-run media.
 
Merchants of major cities such as Mashhad, Shiraz, Qazvin, Tehran and the northern city of Tabriz protested to the rule and the law barring them from "blocking the walkways outside shops."
 
The State Security Forces – suppressive mullahs' police -- attacked the shopkeepers attempting to break up their strike in Qazvin.