(Arrested) Bus Workers Go On Strike in Prison ( hunger strike to protest their imprisonment)

roozonline.com ^ | Feb. 5, 2006

[nuconvert]

Bus Workers Go On Strike in Prison

Bahram Rafiee

Feb. 5, 2006

Iran’s domestic media have been banned from publishing news on the government crackdown of the strike of bus drivers who again took to the streets in protest of their conditions. There are news reports that many arrests have followed the government clampdown and that those arrested had been transferred to the harsh 209-ward of the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran. There are also reports that the prisoners have gone on a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment.

Khedmat, an internet news site close to hardline president Ahmadinejad has accused the workers of institutional connections with local and international groups! This is a first Ahmadinejad’s government. No workers had been treated like this until now. But so uncomfortable and panicky is the government over these strikes that it has offered Rials 450,000, which is considered a relatively large sum of money to striking workers who break their strike and return to work.

The bus drivers syndicate had called for a strike last Saturday. So while workers were gathering to protest their work conditions, security agents ambushed them right at their houses and arrested more than 60 members of their syndicate, which included their wives and children. Security and police forces attacked and beat up the strikers soon after it began. Those arrested were immediately taken to prison. According to the police, some 50 to 60 strikers had been detained. Police officials claimed that the strikers were not peaceful marchers but had actually engaged in stone throwing at buses that had not joined them in their strike and who continued to work.

But the attack on the strikers seems to have only brought more sympathy from other drivers or workers and even prisoners. It is reported that some 500 imprisoned workers went on a hunger strike when they heard that the bus drivers had been attacked and arrested. In addition, workers of one of the government’s largest employers, Iran Khodro which manufacturers a number of locally assembled automobiles, issued a statement of support for the bus drivers and their demands.

In a coordinated move, the official press in Iran recently called the worker's strike a political plot and accused its participants and organizers of being connected to the country’s enemies outside. Some foreign publications in the capital have carried stories about other factory workers joining the bus drivers strike. Strikes of this kind in the past had been brutally suppressed by security forces

[383rr]

If the msm wants to see abuse, they should check out where these guys are going.

[Founding Father]

Go here for more info:

http://www.daneshjoo.org/

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Time to activate the Ralph Kramden Brigade!

[nuconvert]

"Ahmadinejad has accused the workers of institutional connections with local and international groups! This is a first Ahmadinejad’s government. No workers had been treated like this until now. But so uncomfortable and panicky is the government over these strikes that it has offered Rials 450,000, which is considered a relatively large sum of money to striking workers who break their strike and return to work."

[Pan_Yans Wife]

In a coordinated move, the official press in Iran recently called the worker's strike a political plot and accused its participants and organizers of being connected to the country’s enemies outside.

And the workers' wives and children were making a political statement? Were they also brought to Evin prison?

The lunacy continues,just when you think it couldn't get much worse. I wonder if on top of citing Iran for it's nuclear program... will the UN also take notice of human rights abuses?

[FARS]

Lunacy get worse? We've only scratched the surface and see this much. Wait till you see what's really there appear in the next couple of months.

BTW - check out http://antimullah.com

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Oh, I've seen this before, and have been following the Iranian saga unfold in the news for quite some time.

[odds]

""Ahmadinejad has accused the workers of institutional connections with local and international groups!...Rials 450,000, which is considered a relatively large sum of money to striking workers who break their strike and return to work."

That figures! Thought they'd twist matters to justify their digusting actions. Bribery too! How original. They give Fascism a new definition.