Page 24 - IRANRptOct22

300,000 stone factory workers in Iranian industrial town continue strike for third day
More than 100 teachers reported arrested in Iran protests
against women and against the poverty and hell that dominates the society,” the Organising Council of Oil Contract Workers said on September 26.
The unrest was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who fell into a coma and passed away after being seized by the morality police in Tehran on September 13. Campaigners say there is evidence she was beaten. Officials deny that was the case.
RFE/RL on September 27 reported on several Iranian university professors who have joined students involved in the protests by refusing to participate in classes.
The day also brought a report from the BBC on the claimed ruthless brutality of security forces attempting to drive the protesters off the streets. Iranian riot police and security forces clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities during the latest day of unrest, Reuters reported.
Germany on September 26 summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin to urge Tehran to stop its violent crackdown.
"We call on the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful protests and to not deploy further violence—in particular not fatal violence—against protesters," the ministry said on Twitter. "We also communicated that directly to the Iranian ambassador in Berlin today."
Around 300,000 stone factory workers in the Iranian industrial town of Mahmoudabad in Isfahan on June 20 continued their strike for a third consecutive day despite threats from the authorities, according to Radio Farda.
Iran in recent months has seen an upsurge in unrest over cost-of-living and work conditions, among other mounting difficulties. Wage arrears, a lack of insurance support, inadequate old-age pensions, water shortages, the deadly state of buildings constructed cheaply because of corruption and the jailing of teachers protesting about their pay and other difficulties have been among issues that have drawn people on to the streets to protest. At the same time, Iran still forbids the forming of independent unions.
The strike in Mahmoudabad was reportedly kicked off by a union leader who was arrested by security forces afterwards. Two days later, under duress, he was said to have called for an end to the action, but was ignored.
June 20 brought a rally of discontented truck drivers outside the Road Administration building in Tehran.
More than 100 teachers were arrested in Iran for taking part in protests demanding improved pay and working conditions and the freeing of previously imprisoned teachers, the Iranian Teachers' Union's Coordination Council said on its Telegram channel on June 17.
Sixty teachers in Shiraz, around 30 in Kurdistan Province, 10 in Qazvin, six in Rasht and three in Khomeini-Shahr were arrested during a nationwide rally the previous day, it said.
The authorities have summoned, detained and jailed a growing number of protesters and activists in response to the teachers’ protests in recent weeks, but their actions have failed to stop the mounting of more rallies, according to Radio Farda.
Ismail Abdi, secretary-general of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, has been in prison since 2015. Iranian authorities sentenced him to six years in
24 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com