Iran's teachers to stage nationwide protests

While many cities across Iran are scenes of protests by various union activists, Iranian teachers have announced a nationwide protest slated for next week.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations issued a statement on Thursday, calling on teachers all over the country to take to streets on June 16 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM local time and demand their legal rights.

Teachers have been often holding protests for nearly a year, but the political situation in Iran has worsened in recent months, with rising food prices and a growing perception of government inefficiency and corruption.

The statement said their demands include better salaries, freedom of their colleagues arrested during the previous rounds of demonstrations as well as standard education facilities and free education for students. They also demand the implementation of decade-old legislation that would bring the salaries and pensions of 750,000 teachers in line with other civil servants.

Emphasizing that holding protests for their demands is among their basic rights, the statement added that the authorities are charging union activists with fabricated accusations of endangering the security of the country, as a last resort to repress the protests and ignore teachers’ demands.

“We declare loudly that if our colleagues are not released immediately and unconditionally, and the legitimate demands of Iranian teachers are not fulfilled, the protests will continue,” the statement read.

The teachers’ restlessness coincides with protests by Iranian retirees, which started Monday and continued Thursday in several cities across the country.