410 acts of protest in Iranian month of Ordibehesht (April 21 ? May 22)

410 acts of protest in Iranian month of Ordibehesht (April 21 ? May 22)





Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Students at the University of Zanjan (northwest Iran) on May 20 disrupted a speech by Mirhossein Moussavi, former mullahs' prime minister, and demanded explanations about his role during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.

Iranians carried out more than 410 acts of protest in the past month of the Iranian calendar (April 21 – May 22), expressing their deep-seated disdain toward the religious fascism ruling Iran, its suppressive policies, and catastrophic living conditions of workers and teachers....

During the same period, university students in Iran carried out 114 strikes, gatherings, and sit-ins, turning the country’s campuses into the main centers of protest against the clerical regime. Student protests were animated with chants such as, “Death to dictator, Death to fascists,” “Either death or freedom,” “Guns, bullets, Bassij: No longer effective,” in reference to the regime’s paramilitary Bassij Force.

University students in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Zanjan, Ghazvin, Mashhad, Babolsar, Arak, Karaj, Sistan va Balouchestan, and Kermanshah, expressed outrage over the mullahs’ sham presidential elections, transforming the mullahs’ presidential campaign sessions into gatherings which denounced and deplored the entire clerical regime.

Mirhossein Moussavi, former mullahs’ prime minister during the war with Iraq and one of the main accomplices in exporting terror abroad and execution of political prisoners, including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988, was questioned and bashed by students for his role in the massacre.

Students also chided Mahmoud Ahamadinejad, describing him in their chants as the “source of corruption and discrimination,” in Iran.

Workers carried out more than 90 strikes in Iranian month of Ordibehesht. In numerous sit-ins and gatherings, workers demanded their delayed wages, which have been squandered by the mullahs.

On May 1, 2009, on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day, thousands of workers in Iran marched against the ruling clerics in many cities including Tehran, Kermanshah, Qom, Arak, Sanandaj, and Ghasre Shirin, despite the heavy presence of suppressive forces and the institution of an undeclared martial law.

The regime’s suppressive State Security Force (SSF) attacked protestors’ rally at Tehran’s Laleh Park, arresting more than 150 labor activists, women, and youth. Despite the passing of nearly a month since the arrests, some of the detainees are still imprisoned on an arbitrary basis.

During the past month of Iranian calendar, teachers organized more than 100 acts of protest. Nationwide teachers’ strikes in early May led to closure of schools across the country. The strikes took place as the clerical regime marshaled its security and intelligence forces in a bid to prevent the protests.

Additionally, the number of protests by other social sectors against the ruling religious fascism in Iran reached to a hundred. Some of the other acts of protest included those of opponents imprisoned in the regime’s medieval prisons, as well as writing anti-government graffiti on walls across towns.

During the last month of Iranian calendar (April 21 – May 22) the clerical regime has intensified the reign of terror in the country. In a bid to quell social uprisings, it hanged 47 prisoners and issued death sentences for 27 others. Thousands were arrested in Tehran and other cities on various pretexts.