NCRI – The Iranian regime is stepping up oppressive measures against the population to force them to attend sham rallies staged for the anniversary of the anti-monarchical revolution on February 10,
These measures include closing schools and threatening pupils with discipline grades being lowered, warning workers they will lose pay for being absent, curfews, restrictions of movement and pressure from paramilitary thugs to coerce citizens to ‘celebrate’ the dictatorship’s 34 years in power.
Amongst scores of tactics to force the population to take part are:
1. Employers and factory owners have been given quotas for the forced participation of their workers in the demonstrations.
2. Employees in Isfahan and Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari provinces have been threatened with written reprimands and five-days absenteeism notices if they do not join the marches.
3. All schools in the country have been given a quota for participating in the demonstrations, and pupils have been told that if they do not participate, their discipline grades will be lowered.
4. In some schools, notably in Semnan, classes have been halted for preparation for the march.
5. Taxi drivers have been ordered to fix bars on the rear of their cars to hold the regime’s flag – known by the people as the Scorpion flag.
6. Scores of undercover agents have been deployed around the capital Tehran, dressed in plain clothes to spy on the population.
7. Large numbers of regime intelligence agents are patrolling bazaars and pedestrian bridges throughout Tehran to spy on and report the movements of citizens.
8. Cameras have been secretly installed throughout the city, hidden within the flags and in parks and streets. Many people are aware of and mock the presence of these cameras.
9. A curfew is in place in Azadi Square from 9pm on Saturday February 9 until the end of the rallies, with the restriction of movement in many other parts of the city.
10. The regime also intends to fill the main routes of the march in Tehran with military and police forces bussed into the capital from other cities. The Bassij paramilitary has instructed every city’s Bassij force to bring as many people as they can by bus to the rallies, with those Bassij forces bringing the most people promised financial rewards.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 7, 2013
