in oil and petrochemical industry
in 87 refineries and facilities in 26 cities
Continued public protests against water shortage and power outage in various cities
This morning, cattle ranchers and farmers in Isfahan gathered to protest in front of the Governor’s office. Farmers rallied to protest the denial of their rights to water because of the diversion of the Zayandeh-Rud River; the cattle ranchers were protesting the high cost of cattle feed and raising livestock.
The repressive State Security Force (SSF) tried to confront the cattle ranchers and farmers and prevent them from entering the Governor’s office. However, it was met with protesters’ resistance. The protesting ranchers and farmers chanted: “God is great…,” “We will obtain our rights to water, even if we have to sacrifice our lives.” A group of women farmers and girls lined up in front of the repressive forces chanting, “We pray to God to eradicate this oppression.” The protesters also jeered the police for using force against the protesters.
At the same time, cattle ranchers in Damghan also protested against the low price of milk and the high cost of cattle feed.
Meanwhile, the oil and petrochemical contract workers staged their 19th day of strike today. In recent days, welders in Zahedan, Kerman (Asia Haftsang Company), Rasht (Darya Sahel Company), and workers at the Firoozabad Pumping Station joined the national strike. Contract workers in at least 87 oil and petrochemical plants and facilities in 26 cities have joined the nationwide strike.
In protest of the power outage, on Tuesday evening, for the fourth consecutive night, people in different cities of the country, including Rasht, Shiraz, Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Fasa, protested the outages, chanting, “Death to Khamenei, death to the dictator.”
The state-run newspaper Hamdeli warned, “If the situation continues like this, it will not end in a simple protest against the power outage, and the scope of the protests will expand to political and security dimensions. It will be wise for the high-ranking state officials to flashback to the Dec. 2017 – Jan. 2018 protests as well as the November 2019 protests against the high price of gasoline, and after reviewing it, judge whether the people’s patience had run out more then or now?”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
July 7, 2021
