Iranian Workers Condemn the Killing and Violent Suppression of Protesters
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- Published on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 02:00
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1952 ... December 11, 2019
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Iranian Workers Condemn the Killing and Violent Suppression of Protesters
On November 15, 2019, following a sudden 300% gasoline price hike, protests erupted across Iran, mostly by working-class and underprivileged people. Dissatisfaction among Iranians is at such high levels that in just 48 hours mass protests spread out to more than 100 cities.
However, these righteous protests by the oppressed people were crushed and bloodied in the most cruel and ruthless way. Reports indicate that hundreds, as young as 13 and 14 years-old children, were shot dead. At least another 1,000 were injured and more than 8,000 detained. State officials, in an internationally unprecedented move, blocked the Internet in the whole country and even disrupted cell-phone services in many areas. Military and security forces along with plain-clothes officers were unleashed to silence the protesters by lethal force and shooting directly at protesters.
The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC) strongly condemns the bloody suppression of protesters, the majority of whom were working-class and underprivileged people. There is no acceptable justification... for these illegitimate acts of repression. The ruling government’s security apparatus has for years suppressed peoples’ peaceful protests, including by workers, teachers, and students. It has punished protesters by subjecting them to physical violence and by condemning them to lengthy prison terms and heavy lashing sentences. While authorities deceptively claim that the right to peaceful protest is respected, the President openly declares that turning off vehicles on the road is not an act of peaceful protest! This begs the question of what kind of protest is considered peaceful in their mind? Why the workers of Khatoon Abad Copper Mines, who were merely demanding their right to work, were attacked and killed by air and ground gunfire? Was it not the peaceful gathering of workers and their supporters on the International Workers’ Day that was crushed recently? Or is it not that dozens of labour activists, including members of our union, are facing lengthy prison sentences only because they have participated in a plain and simple labour protest?
