An Iranian teachers’ union has called for a two-day strike from Sunday to denounce the violent crackdown in schools and the death of more than 20 children during protests in Iran.
The Islamic Republic has been rocked by a protest movement since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, three days after she was arrested in Tehran by morality police for violating a strict dress code for women, foreseeing especially the wearing of the veil.
According to a report by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo, the repression of these demonstrations left at least 122 dead.
At least 23 children have been killed by Iranian security forces and hundreds more have been injured, detained and tortured, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said on Monday.
The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions called on Thursday for the mobilization which will result in “two days of sit-ins and strikes on Sunday and Monday”.
“We, the teachers, will be present in the schools, but we will refrain from entering the classes”, they specify in a text published on the Telegram platform.
The teachers accuse “the security forces and (agents) in civilian clothes” of violent acts in the schools and of having “killed several students and children”. They also claim that a “large number” of their “arrested” colleagues have not been charged.
“The leaders must know that the Iranian teaching community will not tolerate these atrocities and this tyranny,” said the Coordinating Council of Teachers’ Unions, saying “support the protest movement across the country”.
The teachers finally called for the “unconditional release of all schoolchildren in detention and their return to school benches”.
On Thursday, the union announced the death of a 15-year-old Iranian girl, who died last week after being beaten by security forces during a raid on her school in Ardabil, a city in the northwest of Iran.
“One of the students, Asra Panahi, unfortunately died in hospital, while others were arrested”, the teachers deplore adding that a student fell into a coma after being beaten by the police .