Demonstration reported in Shiraz

GVF -- Workers in the city of Shiraz (Fars province) staged a demonstration today on the occasion of International Workers’ Day.

According to the Kaleme website, at 10am the demonstrators who were initially around fifty people, gathered in front of the office of the governor which is located on the city’s Azadi (Freedom) street.

The demonstrators held banners saying that the massive number of layoffs meant that they would be facing a "dark future." A message written on the placards read a sarcastic message congratulating workers for their unemployment and another said “We will not back down until we get out rights.”

A worker in the meat industry who was present at the demonstration said that he had been fired from his job and had not received any income for the past seven months. He added that 1,200 job cuts had been put in place at the meat factory as a result of privatisation in the production unit. Workers at this particular factory also staged a similar strike in front of the company’s administration on April 11.

Also, during a visit by Ahmadinejad to the province of Fars on 22 December 2009, workers at the mentioned meat factory echoed their protest to the illegitimate president as he was making a speech at a football stadium in Shiraz. They held banners calling on authorities to pay further attention to their needs and rights.