Dozens of teachers and educators were arrested in connection with their protests in over a dozen cities and towns across Iran on June 15 and 16.
They came to the streets to demand higher salaries, better working conditions, and the release of teachers who were arrested during recent demonstrations.
They also demanded the release of teachers arrested in earlier protests.
The rallies were organized and declared by the Iranian Teachers’ Union’s Coordination Council a week earlier.
Footage and reports from different cities pertained to the heavy presence of security forces to prevent the teachers’ rallies on Thursday.
On Wednesday, security forces summoned and arrested dozens of teachers, activists, and organizers of demonstrations to intimidate protesters. But on Thursday, large rallies were reported in several cities despite the regime resorting to severe security measures to prevent them.
In recent months Iranian teachers and educators held numerous rallies protesting regime policies that have plunged their lives into poverty. The teachers demand the full implementation of the government service law, the “Teachers Ranking” bill, and the adjustment of salaries according to growing inflation rates and the depreciation of the national currency.
The teachers are fighting for their most basic rights, including the increase of their wages above the poverty line, which currently stands at around 120-140 million rials per month. Most teachers receive half of that amount. According to the regime’s own stats, there is a 40-percent gap between the income of teachers and the costs of living.
In a statement, the Iranian Teachers’ Union’s Coordination Council stressed that the regime’s policy has only aggravated poverty, pushing teachers from the middle class to the lower classes. The regime’s policies have resulted in unprecedented inflation rates and skyrocketing prices of basic goods. Meanwhile, teachers and other walks of life have seen no change in their salaries.
“Government employees, workers, teachers, and retirees can’t counter the effects of unbridled inflation, and every day, their purchasing power is diminishing, their food tables are becoming smaller, and they have no other choice than to claim their rights by raising their voices in the streets,” the statement reads. “It is disappointing that authorities are responding with violence instead of listening to the voices of the fed-up people. They don’t believe that the people are fed up with poverty and discrimination.”
A number of teachers arrested on Wednesday and Thursday are:
Khalid Abdullahi, Mohammad Fattahi, Suleiman Abdi, Aziz Marzi, Salah Sorkhi, Awat Razavi, Taher Hamedi, Loghmanullah Moradi, Ahmad Ghaderi, Keyvan Ahmadi, Khalid Sheikhi, Anwar Farajzadeh, Salah Hosseini, Zahed Moradi, Amanj Amini, Hossein Mohammadi, Taher Qaderzadeh, Keyvan Mohammadi, Qader Yathrabi, Marzieh Talaei, Ismail Reyhani, Taher Hamedi, all members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union in the city of Saqez.
Omid Shah Mohammadi, Osman Rezaei, Hiva Qureshi, Parviz Ahsani, Kaveh Mohammadzadeh, members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union in Diwandareh, Kurdistan Province.
Salah Haji Mirzaei, Mohammad Reza Moradi, and Ghias Nemati, members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union in Sanandaj.
Tahsin Mostafa, Sivan Soleimani and Aram Ghaderi in the city of Marivan.
Parviz Eini in the city of Delfan.
Kokab Bodaghi, Aziz Ghasemzadeh, Mahmoud Sedighipour, Anush Adeli, and Javad Saeedi in the northern city of Rasht.
Mohammadreza Behnamnezhad, Ali Sadeghinezhad, Mahmoud Sabooni, Mahmoud Zamani, Sayyadi, Hamid Farokh, Amniat Eftekhari and Razani Kazemi in the city of Qazvin.
