Videos: Pensioners Across Iran Protest Government ‘Deceit’

Iranwire – Iranian pensioners and retirees marched through the streets in at least 16 cities on Monday to highlight their dire living conditions after a government decision not to increase monthly payments in line with inflation. 

#تبریز– #بازنشستگان_تامین_اجتماعی نیروی سرکوب را از سر راه خود میروبند.
چهار راه منصور به طرف میدان ساعت و بازار pic.twitter.com/OMlQh7HVQN— (علی یوسفی) Ali Yosofi (@nioscha1) June 6, 2022

Some of the biggest protests took place in front of administrative buildings in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Karaj, Arak, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Mashad, Shush and Shushtar. Several people were reportedly arrested by security forces in the capital and taken away in vans, while security forces tried to break up rallies in front of the Planning and Budget Organization.

ویدیوهای دیگری از راهپیمایی و تجمع اعتراضی بازنشستگان تأمین اجتماعی اهواز pic.twitter.com/zFAEjNFZ50— اتحادیه آزاد کارگران ایران (@AzadEttehad) June 6, 2022

On Sunday, June 5, the cabinet decided to increase the social security payments to non-minimum-wage retirees by just 10 percent. Previously, even the Supreme Labor Council had stipulated that the increase should be at least 38 percent.

تجمع اعتراضی بازنشستگان تأمین اجتماعی شیراز

امروز دوشنبه ۱۶ خردادماه ۱۴۰۱ جمعی از بازنشستگان تأمین اجتماعی شیراز مقابل اداره کل تامین اجتماعی این استان دست به تجمع زدند.

این بازنشستگان تأمین اجتماعی …#تجمع_اعتراضی#بازنشستگان_تأمین_اجتماعی pic.twitter.com/v9AT2eSBcU— اتحادیه آزاد کارگران ایران (@AzadEttehad) June 6, 2022

Among the chants heard at several of the rallies was “Death to a deceitful government”. In Shiraz, protesters held empty tablecloths aloft as a symbol of the subsidence crisis. In Tabriz, a number of non-retirees joined the crowd.

In Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, which is still reeling from the collapse of the Metropol building in Abadan last month, people chanted the new but already ubiquitous slogan: “Today is a day of mourning”.