On July 23, large numbers of social security fund pensioners once again gathered in different cities as usual on Sundays and chanted slogans against government officials. Retirees are protesting against embezzlement from pension funds, and low salaries and poor living conditions. These rallies were held on this day in the cities of Shush, Ahvaz, Rasht and Kermanshah. In Ahvaz, retirees marched and displayed a passionate atmosphere of protest and unity during the march. The retirees in this city directly challenged the government and the whole government’s looting and theft with their loud protest slogans. “Raisi the liar! Where is the result of your promises?” (Raisi is the president), “Free treatment is our inalienable right”, and “We don’t ask for anything but our right, we don’t ask for donations from the government”. A noticeable big banner was held by the protesting pensioners in defence of their lawyer, Ms Farzane Zilabi, who has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison. She has defended workers, teachers and pensioners. The demand of the pensioners is annulation of Farzane Zillabi’s prison sentence and to immediately release her and close her security case.
In Kermanshah, an important slogan of the retirees was “public, military, Social Security retirees! Unity! Unity!”, which emphasizes the unity of different sectors of retirees. In Rasht, they about two hundred retirees gathered and protested. In this city, the police and plain clothes forcesof the government had a prominent presence and encountered the crowd several times and started filming. But despite that, the rally continued. Then a police officer along with 5 people entered the crowd and filmed and planned to arrest one of the retirees named Dianati, but they faced resistance from the retirees and failed. The suppression forces insulted the gatherers and tried to disperse the crowd by spraying. In the meantime, they took Dianati inside the supply building, where they faced strong resistance from the pensioners. The pensioners clashed with the police with slogans of death to the oppressor. In the end, the suppression forces asked the demonstrators to leave the place and announced that if they end the demonstration, they will release Mr Dianati. But the retirees did not go back.
Retirees from Haft Tappeh and Karkheh also participated in the gathering in Shush city. These gatherings were held despite the scorching heat of 54 degrees.
The main axes of the pensioners’ protest were against poverty and high prices and the government’s livelihood assaults on them, and this is the voice of the entire community’s protest, which is heard in successive gatherings of retirees.