Teachers protest in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Kermanshah, and Ahvaz
Iranian teachers and educators have been protesting in various cities in recent days demanding their basic rights and wages.
Contract teachers held a protest on Sunday, August 4, 2019, and Monday, August 5, 2019, in front of the Ministry of Education in Tehran. The protesters, consisting of mostly women, held up banners. One of them read: The oppressed contract teacher will not accept discrimination! They also chanted slogans against the lack of implementing the law to recruit contract teachers. They chanted, “We do not want promises, we want the implementation of the law. I am not leaving here until I get paid.”
Also on Sunday, August 4, 2019, a group of preschool teachers in Khuzestan Province gathered in front of the Education Department in Ahvaz to protest against their employment status. (The state-run ILNA News Agency – August 4, 2019)
In Tabriz, employed and retired educators protested against the lack of response to their demands in front of the Education Department on Monday, August 5, 2019. They held banners that read: “The teacher’s place is not in prison” and “We want an increase in teachers’ salaries.”
On the same day in Isfahan, dozens of employed and retired teachers gathered in front of the Education Department as law enforcement and plainclothes agents exceeded the number of protesters, and the regime intended to prevent the spread of the protest and more people joining at any cost. They did not allow anyone to take photographs or video of the protest. Female officers pushed the protesting women and arrested those holding their phones. The agents attacked anyone who tried to shout slogans and prevented the protesters from chanting.
One of the protesters said, “As soon as we distributed our protest banners among the demonstrators, agents rushed in and tried to stop the rally. They were dispersing the crowd.”
A group of employed and retired teachers in Ahvaz also protested in front of the Khuzestan Education Department on Monday, August 5, 2019. The banners of the protesters addressed to the regime’s agents wrote: “We Iranians have not chosen the hard life and to live under the poverty line. You have imposed a miserable and stressful life on the Iranian people.” They also held up signs that read: “Raise teacher salaries above the poverty line” and “Imprisoned teacher must be released”.
On the same day, a group of educators in Kermanshah gathered in front of the province’s Education Department building.
On Monday, August 5, 2019, the defrauded clients of the Caspian Credit Institution protested in front of the Judiciary building in Tehran.
On the same day, the defrauded buyers of the Pars Khodro Company staged a protest in front of the building of the Criminal Court in Tehran. (The state-run Tasnim News Agency – August 5, 2019)