Reports tallied by the Iranian opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), show that protests by people from all walks of life spread throughout the country in the last few days.
These protests are due to Iran’s economic woes, an unbearable situation caused by the regime’s corruption, ineptitude, mismanagement, and the squandering of national wealth on its malign objectives.
On Wednesday, March 2, healthcare workers of the private sector in Tabriz, northwest Iran, held a protest in front of the governorate, demanding their six-month delayed paychecks.
March 2 – Tabriz, northwest #Iran
Staff members of medical centers rally outside the local governor's office demanding their paychecks that have been delayed for the past six months.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/la3yYLSLYY— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 2, 2022
On the same day, butchers in Boroujerd, in Lorestan province, western Iran, held a rally, protesting the forensic office’s decision to delay the delivery of meat and holding them for an additional 24 hours in slaughterhouses.
Again, on Wednesday, defrauded creditors of Badran Gostaran financial institution in Tehran held a protest rally. On the same day, defrauded Money King Currency Institution creditors held another protest in Tehran, demanding their money. These institutions were allowed to run Ponzi schemes with impunity for years since they are owned by regime officials, religious endowments, and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
On March 2, villagers in Baneh-Abbasin Khuzestan province held a demonstration in front of the local Judiciary branch. According to locals, unknown assailants had set fire to their houses, vehicles, pumps, and agricultural wells. Despite people’s repeated complaints, regime officials have refused to act. Therefore, locals suspect regime officials are behind those incidents.
On Wednesday, contract employees of Lorestan Province Electricity Department held a protest rally in front of the governorate, demanding full contracts, job security, and equal payment.
On Wednesday, the Pars Hafta Tappeh paper factory workers continued their strike for the seventh day running. They gathered in the company premises to protest the authorities’ refusal to address their demands.
In another development on Tuesday, family members of the victims of the PS752 flight held a rally in front of Ukraine’s embassy, expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemning the war of occupation. These protesters, who had lost their loved ones when the Iranian regime downed a Ukrainian passenger jet in 2020, underlined that, unlike the Iranian regime officials, they are standing by the Ukrainian people. The Iranian regime’s thugs attacked these protesters and brutalized them.
On Sunday, defrauded creditors of the Amitis Company held a rally, demanding their lost life savings. Amitis Company fleeced people’s life savings for four years with the promise of one percent profit per day. This state-affiliated company has raised more than 25 quadrillion rials or $950 million based on the current exchange rate at the free market. On the same day, plundered creditors of Negin Khodrow and Airthobia automobile factories held a protest rally in front of the so-called revolutionary court of Tehran, urging officials to hold the companies’ officials accountable for plundering people’s money and not giving them vehicles.
March 2 – Tehran, #Iran
Investors of the King Money institution rallying and demanding for their stolen money to be returned.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/qzjZOnDo7D— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 2, 2022
On Sunday, locals in Baneh, Kurdistan province, held a protest rally following the brutal killing of a Kurdish citizen by the regime’s forces.
In a significant development on Sunday, pensioners of the social security organization held their nationwide rally across the country for another weekend. Retirees and Social Security have been protesting their meager wages and pensions, which are not commensurate with the skyrocketing prices and inflation rate. They also protested about their poor living conditions.
Simultaneous with pensioners’ nationwide protest, contract teachers in Tehran held a massive rally in front of the regime’s parliament (Majlis). These teachers have been holding protests, demanding job security and equal pay.
The ongoing demonstrations across Iran are the broadest display of discontent and society’s explosive state since the major 2019 uprising, which rattled the regime’s foundations. The outpouring of anger is directed not only at the regime’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who has been promising to revitalize the economy, but also the mullahs’ supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
In fact, Raisi, also known as the “hanging judge,” was appointed as the regime’s president to stifle any voice of dissent, and the rising number of executions and attacks on peaceful protesters are testaments to this fact.
But these actions have the opposite effect on society and increase its volatility, which the state media have acknowledged.
“In many cases, protesters have experienced violent measures instead of officials addressing their demands. This, according to experts, has not only failed to stop the protests but also increased social criticism,” the state-run Hamdeli daily acknowledged on March 1.
