After more than two weeks of protests, the street demonstrations are not only continuing, but intensifying. Slogans calling for the fall of the regime are becoming more and more numerous. In addition to their massive participation in the daily demonstrations, more and more young women are occupying the public space and walking in the streets without their veils, thus openly challenging the foundations of the Islamic Republic. In some cities, the climate is insurrectional and the police are forced to back down in the face of the protesters’ determination. In Kurdistan, there are days of general strikes which border on “dead city” operations with the closure of shops.
But arrests and live fire continue. On 1 October, 133 people were killed by the police. The repression was particularly brutal in Zahedan (Sistan-Baluchistan province): the security forces did not hesitate to shoot at the exit of the Friday prayer on the angry crowd. At least 41 people were killed.
However, the fatigue of the police is obvious. The tactic of the young demonstrators of organizing simultaneous demonstrations in several districts of the same city causes their forces to be dispersed, and therefore considerably reduces their effectiveness. The appearance of Molotov cocktails added to their disarray.
How to continue?
This raised the question of how to move forward, and how to broaden the scope of the protests.
– The first response, as always in Iran, came from the student movement: to go on strike and call for its extension to teachers, higher education managers and high school students. In several cities, especially Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan, classes were boycotted in order to participate in the demonstrations. The Teachers’ Association called for a strike, and this call was heard in major cities.
– A second response is emerging from within the labor movement. Unrecognized trade unions, hard hit by the mass arrests of their members, have demanded their release. They are asking workers to start work stoppages.
The VAHED union of bus drivers in Tehran and its suburbs, some of whose leaders have been imprisoned since May and another since 27 September, demanded their release and threatened to call a strike. The Organising Council of Oil Industry Workers issued a statement demanding “an end to the repression” and also threatened to call a strike.
Labour is starting to show its teeth. The slogans “Students, Workers, Unity, Unity” are being heard in the universities. This is precisely what the regime fears: the junction between workers, women and youth mobilizations.
All over the world, actions and mobilizations in solidarity with the popular mobilization in Iran are flourishing. It is crucial that in all countries, the workers’ movement takes its full place in this wave in order to influence the evolution of the situation.
At the time of writing (3 October morning), police forces are surrounding and arresting students occupying Sharif University in Tehran.