Iran protest against soaring prices- No. 4
Popular protests against skyrocketing prices continued despite widespread repressive measures for the 4th night running on Saturday evening, May 14, 2022, in Quchan, Hafshejan, Farsan, and Babaheydar, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province, Borujerd, Boroujen, and Razaviyeh district of Tehran. Outraged protesters chanted, “Death to Khamenei, Raisi,” and “Death to the principle of Velayat-e-Faqih (one-man dictatorship),” and in many cities ended up clashing with repressive regime forces. The people of Neyshabur staged an anti-regime demonstration on Saturday morning, to protest the soaring prices. In Hafshejan, repressive forces opened fire on the people, and the angry people torched the repressive Basij center.
The mullahs’ regime has taken extensive security measures to prevent the spread of protests in various cities. In Tehran, especially in the city’s central areas, repressive forces have been put on alert. In the cities of Khuzestan Province and many other cities such as Borujerd, Sanandaj, Mahabad, and Ilam, heavy presence of intelligence, State Security, and military forces have been reported. In recent days, many young people in various cities have been arrested, and the Internet has been cut off or throttled.
Several protesters have been shot dead or wounded in recent uprisings, but the regime has refused to disclose the news. Today, Avaei, a regime parliament deputy from Dezful, admitted so much by stating, “the person who was killed in the recent rallies was not from Dezful (southwest of Iran) and was from Andimeshk (west of Iran).” Izadpanah, another regime parliament deputy from Izeh, also confessed that several young protesters had been arrested.
Today, Ebrahim Raisi, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (speaker of the regime parliament), and Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i (chief of the regime’s judiciary) held a joint meeting to defend the state’s plan to increase the price of essential goods, emphasizing on “the cooperation and collaboration of all branches of the state in implementing the plan.” They claimed: “We must act so that the goods and items needed by the people are distributed in the markets promptly.”
Referring to calls encouraging others to join the protests, Mohammad Bagher Laini, Khamenei’s representative in Mazandaran Province, said in Friday’s prayer ceremony, “If you received negative clips or messages on your smartphone, they are from the enemies. They are from the hypocrites (A pejorative used by the regime to demonize the Mujahedin-e Khalq). Do not read them, or if you read them, do not send them to others. Let this situation (uprisings) subside!” He warned, “Rioters from outside and inside want to take advantage of this opportunity and repeat what happened in the streets in 2009 and 2019 (uprisings).”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the people in the rising cities and said: The continuation of the protests with chants of “Death to Khamenei,” “Death to Raisi,” and resistance against the IRGC and Basij, heralds the dawn of final victory over the mullahs’ predatory and criminal regime.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 14, 2022