Iranian teachers held their 6th protest in 2 weeks today in Tehran.
An Iranian teacher holds up a placard that reads: ‘Teachers of the country. Unity. Unity. Unity’ during a demonstration outside the parliament building in Tehran last week. Iranian police clashed today with scores of teachers today in Tehran. (REUTERS/Caren Firouz)
ADN Kronos reports:
Rome, 14 March (AKI) – Some one thousand riot police have broken up and dispersed a protest rally of around 2,000 teachers who assembled Wednesday for the sixth time in two weeks outside the Iranian parliament.
During the clashes 50 teachers were reportedly arrested, among them five leaders of the independent teaching union. Three other union officials were arrested during a rally at Kermanshah in Iranian Kurdistan. The teachers are demanding pay rises and a halt to the sacking of teachers considered ‘ideologically unsound’. In Iran’s Kurdistan area at least 1,500 teachers have received a letter of dismissal on the accusation of fomenting ethnic hate.
The Iranian Education Minister denies the arrests according to Kuliq.com:
Several leaders of Iran’s teachers union are reportedly among the arrested. Their whereabouts are unknown.
Radio Farda reported that Education Minister Mahmud Farshidi has dismissed the reports and said he is not aware of any arrests.
Iran said on March 13 that it has charged five people with disturbing public security at last week’s demonstrations by teachers over low wages.
In recent months, Iranian teachers have staged several protests over salaries and working conditions.