Despite repressive measures and deceptive tactics of the Iranian regime, and despite the fact that the regime refused to grant the workers a permit for their rally, the workers, the toilers and looted people turned the International Workers’ Day on Tuesday, May 1st, into anti-government demonstrations in different cities to protest their catastrophic situation of work and livelihood.
In Tehran, during a protest held on the occasion of International Labor Day, the participants chanted slogans against the Worker House. People demonstrating outside the Parliament demanding their colleague to be released
The Free Workers Union, the Alborz Painters Syndicate, the Workers’ Rights Defenders Association, the Kermanshah Electricity and Metal Workers’ Association, and the Committee for the Advancement of Workers’ Organizations called for a rally in Tehran on the occasion of the International Labor Day.
Karaj-State Security Forces (SSF) brutally attacked and tear-gassed the looted investors of the Alborz Development Institution in Karaj
The brutal attack on looters of the Alborz Development Institute in Karaj with tear gas
Yazd – Hundreds of hard-working workers in Yazd launched protest rallies. Workers at the Prayer Square – Modarres Blvd of this city were marching as they chanted: The worker is awake, they are against exploitation.
Saqez – A group of Saqez workers in the province of Kurdistan rallied on the occasion of the International Labor’s Day in the Workers Square of Chan Valikhan.
Saqez – Plainclothes agents attacked protesters in Saqez City, wounding and arresting a number of workers.
Marivan – A group of workers gathered in the Shabrang Square of Marivan City on the occasion of the International Labor Day and celebrated this day.
Isfahan – Retired Isfahan steelworkers gathered in the city on the occasion of the International Labor Day in protest of their status of livelihood and living conditions in front of the building of the Steel Pension Fund.
Some of the protest movements and demonstrations of workers and toilers on the International Workers’ Day are as follows:
1. In spite of the preparedness and intensive presence of repressive forces, thousands of workers, teachers, retirees and other deprived people rallied and marched in front of the regime’s parliament in Tehran to protest against their dire livelihood. The slogans of the crowd were: Detained workers must be freed; political prisoners must be freed; imprisoned teachers must be freed; Bread, housing and freedom are our absolute rights; Astronomical salaries and public misery; Social security is our absolute right; Worker, teacher, student; United, United; Organization and strike is our absolute right; Poverty line is five million tomans, our salary is one million; We shall not give up until we get our right. The gathering led to clashes when the repressive forces attacked the people. The workers, along with the people who came to support them, clashed with the mercenary Basijis and punished them. Plainclothes and intelligence agents confiscated the cell phones of the protesters and broke them in order to prevent them from taking photos and videos from the scene of the protests. A number of protesters were detained in the clashes. With the reaction of people, a number of women who were arrested managed to flee from the clutches of the mercenaries.
2. Hundreds of workers marched in the streets of Kargar and Hafez and gathered in front of the repression organization called Workers’ House on Abu Reyhan Avenue. They objected to not issuing permits for their rally. The crowd chanted: “Death to the oppressor, hail to the worker.” The workers then moved towards the Jomhouri Street. The protesters carried placards which read: The worker’s table is still vacant; more free zones, more unemployment of workers. In some places, the gathering led to tension with the intervention of the police, and a number of workers were arrested.
3. A group of workers from the Bus Company Syndicate gathered at the Azadi Terminal in Tehran. They had a placard on which they wrote: “The International Workers’ Day: the day of unity, solidarity and justice-seeking”. The workers chanted: “Long live workers, long live unity; hail to syndicate; Workers, workers, united, united; independent organization is our absolute right.
4. In Yazd, a massive crowd of workers marched on Modarres Blvd. and Namaz square. They chanted: Workers are awake, they hate exploitation; with one less embezzlement, our problem will be solved; Workers, workers, united, united.
5. In Baneh, the toilers, shopkeepers and marketers continued their strike for the 17th day. Students at Payame Noor University of Baneh supported the city marketers and shopkeepers by gathering in front of the university and setting a table cloth with no food on it. The protests in Baneh continued during the evening with a gathering outside the governorate building. The repressive forces deployed a large number of anti-riot black vehicles full of mercenaries and intelligence agents in the main streets of the city, including around the governorate, in order to intimidate the people. Three buses of IRGC agents were stationed at the governorate. There were mercenaries on motorcycles everywhere, and the internet was cut off too.
6. In the Naysar Township in Sanandaj, the Workers’ Day was commemorated by the rally of workers and their families. They carried placards, which said: No, to the killing of border porters; Workers are awake, they hate discrimination; Bread, housing, freedom; Woman=Man.
7. In Industrial Town1 in Sanandaj, hundreds of workers gathered. The workers marched from Industrial Town1 to Industrial Town3, joined hundreds of workers from the Industrial Town3, and held a joint celebration.
8. In Saqez, a gathering was held on the occasion of the Workers’ Day in Chami Vali Khan Square, which was attacked by oppressive forces and their local mercenaries. The attack led to clashes. A number of protesters were arrested.
9. In Marivan, workers gathered at the Shabrang square and in Marivan Industrial Town on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day.
10. In Kamyaran, workers gathered at the central square of the city on the Workers’ Day.
11. In Naqadeh, the workers and workers’ activists commemorated the Worker’s Day around the city.
12. In Bandar Abbas, workers at the Gulf Star Oil Refinery protested. Government employers who have not paid salaries and benefits of workers for at least two months, instead of responding to the workers’ problems, fired 30 of them, and this trend continues.
13. In Qazvin, a group of workers gathered in front of the municipality.
14. In Isfahan, the retired workers of Isfahan Steel Company gathered outside the Pension Fund building to protest against their dire livelihood conditions and the regime’s failure to address their problems.
15. In Shoosh, a group of Haft-Tapeh sugarcane workers held a ceremony in front of the factory on April 30.
16. In addition to the protest gatherings on the Workers’ Day, other protest rallies of the looted people continued on May 1st. In Karaj, people looted by Alborz Development Corporation gathered in front of the “House of People” in the city. The anti-riot guards threw tear gas and pepper gas at them, causing a number of people to be injured and harmed. At the same time, a large number of employees of the same institute gathered in front of the “rural cooperative” building in protest against the nonpayment of their eight months’ salary.
17. In Rasht, the people looted by Caspian institute gathered in front of the branch of the institute, throwing dirt and spoiled eggs at it. Most protesters were women. They slammed rocks at the door of institute, broke its glasses, and chanted: You dishonest thieves give us your money.
18. In Mashhad, a group of looted people gathered in front of the governorate. They chanted: “Rouhani, the liar; where is our money;” “Rouhani, Rouhani, shame on you; Seif, Seif (head of the central bank) down with you”.