On
15th
of November 2019, the price of petrol in Iran was raised drastically.
The rationed petrol price was increased by 50% while the price of
non-rationed petrol was tripled. The Islamic regime in Iran claims
that the petrol price increase would be beneficial to the people.
However, the people in Iran, the majority of whom suffers from acute
poverty, took to the streets in large numbers to protest the price
increase. The first peaceful demonstrations that quickly turned into
a violent uprising owing to the brutal attack of the special forces
on demonstrators, took place in Isfahan, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, Karaj,
Ahvaz, Gatvand, Mahshahr, Behbahan, Khorramshar and several other
cities.
Eventually,
the protests intensified and expanded to more than twenty cities and
the slogans turned more radical and political. People chanted “Down
with the Dictator” (meaning the supreme leader Khamenei), “Don’t
be Scared, We are all United”, “Shame on you Dictator, Leave the
Country Alone”, “Mullahs Should Get Lost”, “The Price of Gas
Increases, The Poor become Poorer”.
On
the second day of the uprising, people in cities such as Tabriz and
Kermanshah clashed with the security forces and the special police.
On November 16, the fuel tanker drivers in the province of Khuzestan
went on strike in support of the protestors. The same day, people
succeeded in taking control of several districts and boroughs in
cities such as Abadan, Ahvaz, Behbahan, Khorramshahr and Omidiyeh and
prevented the police and the Special Forces from entering the cities
and neighbourhoods. The same day, students in several cities joined
the protests. Students of the Free University of Gohardasht in Karaj
took to the streets while chanting “Our People is Rebellious, Has
Had Enough of Slavery”. This slogan in fact reveals the radical
leftist emancipatory potential of the uprising as it not only aims at
the Islamic Republic, but also the capitalist relations of production
that are guarded by the Islamic regime in Iran. On the same day, the
students of the University of Urmia also joined the uprising. In a
communique that was issued the same day by the Worker-communist Party
of Iran, people were called upon to form their committees and
councils in order to take control of boroughs, districts and cities.
November
16, is also the day that the people in Isfahan’s Zeynabiyeh
district set the Howza-ye Elmiye (the common name of the vocational
school were mullahs are trained) on fire. In the town of Andisheh,
people occupied the paramilitary Basij’s station. In Tabriz,
several stations of the security forces were set on fire. In Vaeen a
precinct was set on fire while in Ghale Hassan-Khan, a borough of the
city of Quds, the protestors burned down the governor’s building.
In Aryashahr, a district in the west of Tehran, people took to the
streets chanting slogans such as “Down with Khamenei” and “Enough
with the Islam with which you have made people miserable”.
Within
the first two days of the protests, twenty eight people, including a
twelve-year-old child, were killed by the security forces of the
regime.
The
protests accelerated and the number of participants rose drastically
on November 17. The protests turned also more radical, which is
visible in the slogans the protestors chanted. In several districts
of Tehran and Mashhad the protests continued well into the night with
people chanting “We Don’t Want the Islamic Republic”, “Down
with Khamenei” and “Down with the Dictator”. On Azadi Square in
the city of Mashhad, people destroyed an armoured vehicle that
belonged to the Special Forces. In the city of Khorramshahr, people
set the governor’s office and several other government buildings on
fire. In Karaj, people set at last 15 banks and police stations on
fire and burned the flag of the Islamic regime. In the Tehran borough
of Robat-Karim a gas station, in the district of Tehran-Pars a bank,
and in the city of Quds the governor’s building and a number of
banks were set on fire. Protestors burned down a police station in
the Mali-abad district of Shiraz.
On
the same day, the Islamic Republic, fearing that the protests would
spread even wider and a potential general strike, closed down schools
for two days allegedly due to severe weather conditions and heavy
traffic.
17th
of November was also the day that the students of the University of
Tehran, the University of Tabriz, the University of Isfahan, the
University of Urmia and the University of Sanandaj joined the ranks
of the protestors. In Tehran the students chanted “Petroleum Money
is Used to Finance the Basij”, “Workers and Students, Stand Side
by Side in the Fight”, “Gas Price Increases, the Poor become
Poorer”, “Free Political Prisoners”, “Down with the
Dictator”, “People Live in Misery, the Master (Khamenei) Lives
Like a God” and “Hardliner, Reformist, This is the end of your
Stories”.
According
to official statements, more than a thousand people were arrested and
detained until November 17. On November 18, however, the families of
the detainees gathered in front of prisons in Ahvaz and Behbahan
demanding the immediate release of their loved ones. The families
were also accompanied by other people.
On
November 18, workers of the Polyethylene Petro-chemistry Complex of
Mahshahr went on strike protesting the costliness of living expenses
and poor working conditions. Meanwhile, it was reported that trucks
that carry loads from and to the Complex were stopped by the
protestors and their loads confiscated by the people. The fuel tanker
drivers’ strike continued. The regime tried to use trucks that
belong to the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) to transport fuel but
it was reported that they did not succeed as they were prevented from
doing so by the people.
It
has also been reported that on November19, despite all the threats of
the regime, the workers of the Haft-Tappeh Sugar Cane Complex went on
strike and marched toward the governor’s office. People joined the
workers’ protests and many women were on the frontline of the
march. In Mahshahr, the regime brought its military forces and tanks
into the streets. However, the people were not intimidated and the
protests continue in this city too. The protestors also attacked the
Howza-ye Elmiyah and the offices of the Friday prayer Imams and set
them on fire in Kazerun, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Isfahan and several other
cities. This shows the depth of the people’s hatred towards the
Islamic regime and Islamic rule.
In
the face of the uprising, the regime panicked and has had several
emergency meetings. The regime has shut down the Internet in order to
prevent people from communicating the news of the protests; they have
also blocked telephone lines. But the uprising continues with greater
intensity and momentum and the protests have spread to more than one
hundred cities as of today, November 19.
Schools
and universities are closed until November 23, in Tehran and many
other cities, and premier league football matches have been
suspended. Despite all the atrocious and barbaric acts of the Islamic
Republic that so far have claimed the life of hundreds of protestors,
the people won’t budge and they are continuing their revolutionary
movement to topple the Islamic regime. This uprising is the prologue
to a massive social revolution that will end the Islamic Republic and
will create a secular, free, equal and humane society.
Long
Live Prosperity, Freedom, Equality!
Long
Live Socialism!
The
Worker-communist Party of Iran
November
19, 2019
