At Least Fifteen Protest Gatherings Held by Various Sectors, from Bakers and Farmers to Workers and Housing Applicants
18-May-2025
Category: Labor and guilds، protesters
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17 May 2025
News outlet: Protests – Laborers and Guilds
Breathing in Confinement – On Sunday, 16 May 2025, at least 15 protest gatherings were held across the country in response to economic hardships and professional grievances.
According to the Statistics Centre of Breathing in Confinement, affiliated with the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, bakers in the cities of Isfahan, Mashhad, Qom, Birjand, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Mahshahr, Ilam, and also the village of Najmabad (part of Nazarabad County in Alborz Province) held protest gatherings. They protested the non-payment of bakery subsidies, poor performance of the Nanino system, fixed bread prices despite rising costs, and frequent power outages.
In Mashhad, in a symbolic act, bakers handed in their point-of-sale (POS) devices. Some of the slogans chanted by protesters included:
- “We don’t want empty promises,”
- “Death to Nanino,”
- “Nanino shame on you – leave the bakeries alone,”
- “Enough with the promises – our table is empty,”
- “We’re all bakers and we hate Nanino.”
Meanwhile, in Ahvaz, farmers from Khuzestan staged a protest over the poor state of agriculture and the lack of any prospects for autumn planting.
Aluminium factory workers in Arak gathered outside their workplace in protest at repeated power outages and the looming threat of the factory shutting down. Their main concern was the halt in production and the risk of unemployment.
In Rafsanjan, farmers protested in front of the governor’s office over the drying of pistachio trees caused by water shortages and repeated power cuts to agricultural wells. They brought samples of their damaged crops with them.
Staff of Refah chain stores gathered in front of the company’s headquarters in Tehran, protesting the non-payment of three months’ wages.
In Kashan, housing applicants protested in front of the governor’s office over unfulfilled promises by officials regarding housing provision.
Additionally, contract workers of the Telecommunications Company in East Azerbaijan Province held a protest over job insecurity, lack of insurance, low wages and benefits, and the flawed implementation of the job classification law.