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Expansion of protests in Iran following currency recession and strike in Tehran Grand Bazaar

June 27, 2018 at 4:12 am

Iranian riyal [Ivar Husevåg Døskeland/Flickr]

Popular protests in the Iranian capital Tehran have grown for the second day in a row. Demonstrations broke out on Monday following a collapse in the Iranian Tomen on the currency markets. One US dollar has reached 9 thousand Tomans.

According to Fars News Agency, a number of traders and sellers in the Tehran Grand Bazaar announced the closure of their shops in protest against the fluctuating prices. This was followed by waves of spontaneous protests that made their way from various areas of central Tehran to the vicinity of the Iranian parliament in denunciation of the economic situation. This led to clashes between protesters and security forces in Baharestan Square.

Available videos showed that the nucleus of the protests started from strikes between the walls of the old Tehran Grand Bazaar since the early hours of the morning, before traders and sellers, as well as furious citizens, formed human waves that made their way from the central markets in the centre of the Iranian capital towards the Iranian parliament headquarters in Baharestan Square.

The strike included the jewellery markets, Bajnar market, the shoe manufacturing market in Jahar Souk al Kabeer, the “Kilo” market, Sabzeh Meydan, Saray Milli, Saray Buali, and 15 Khordad.

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Iranian activist pages also posted on Twitter, video clips of protesters in Tehran demanding their government to leave Syria. The protesters chanted “Leave Syria alone and think about us” and “We do not want one dollar with 10 thousand Tomans.”

The exchange offices in the capital Tehran have refused to sell or buy hard currency, especially the US dollar, for fear of extreme currency fluctuations.

While the pro-regime media outlets’ recitation of the events prompted to differentiate the protesters between merchants with justified economic demands and “unknown people who tried to deviate the course of the demonstrations,” activists’ video clips showed human waves shouting in one voice and calling for the security forces to provide security for protesters and allow them to hold the protests, despite the two sides’ confirmation that the protests were peaceful.

According to reports, similar protests have broken out in other cities near Tehran, such as Shahriar and Karaj. Activists also circulated news about concurrent strikes in the markets of the city of Mashhad north-eastern of the country, Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Abadan, and Ahvaz in the south of the country.

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Iranian police used tear gas and clubs against crowds of protesters and arrested dozens of them.

The head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture, blamed “the back channels” which sought to hinder the work of Tehran Grand Bazaar to cause a radical economic recession in the capital.

Observers believe that what has been happening in the Iranian capital is a reproduction of the protests that broke out in December 2017, which saw demonstrators stand up against what they described as “failed” economic and political policies