Continuing the protests by Iranian retirees, a number of demonstrators took to the streets again in various Iranian cities on Sunday, June 19. At the time of writing this report, videos have been shared on social media showing retirees gathering in cities such as Ahvaz, Rasht, Kermanshah, Shushtar, Arak, Sari, Doroud, and Shush.
In a video published from Kermanshah, protesters could be seen marching while holding empty tables. Demonstrators in Ahvaz, which witnesses daily protests by social security retirees, organized a large gathering today, chanting "Incompetent management... Resignation, resignation." In Arak, retirees protested the economic situation by chanting "Yesterday's warriors, today's hungry."
In Rasht, protesting retirees gathered in front of the Social Security Administration building, shouting "Woe to all this injustice." It is noteworthy that retirees have been organizing repeated protests over the past year due to the decline in their pensions, but the recent wave of protests, continuing to this day, sparked on June 5, a public holiday in Iran when Ibrahim Raisi's government announced that it would only increase retirees' salaries by 10 percent.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks, teachers have also repeatedly organized large-scale protests in various cities. Merchants have protested the economic situation by closing their shops and gathering in different cities due to high taxes on the private sector. Iranian security forces have confronted most of these protests with repression and the arrest of several labor activists.
