People of Khorramshahr, a south western city of Iran, disrupted Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's speech with chants of "Unemployment! Unemployment!"
Ahmadinejad had travelled to Khoramshahr today for the anniversary of the
liberation of the city during the Iran-Iraq War.
Today's protests in Khorramshahr
ISNA reports that protesters also protested during the
speeches of the provincial officials chanting "We are unemployed!"
Khorramshahr
is a port city in
Khouzestan
Province in southwestern Iran. It is approximately 10 kilometers
north of Abadan. The city extends to the right bank of the Arvand
Roud waterway near its confluence with the Karun river. Estimates
for the population vary widely between 338,922 (2006) and 624,321
(2005).
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
ISNA went on to say that Ahmadinejad reacted to
these slogans saying: "The government is at your service and with the grace of
God with widespread planning the roots of unemployment in the Province of
Khouzestan will be destroyed."
People chanting Bikari!" (unemployment!) during Ahmadinejad speech:
Ahmadinejad also said: "The government will work tirelessly alongside the
people of Khouzestan until the province reaches is full potential."
Khouzestan struggles with a 25 percent unemployment rate and a growing
inflation.
Increasing rate of unemployment due to the closure of small production units and
some big factories has raised the concerns of workers and a number of Islamic
Republic officials.
Alireza Mahjoub, secretary general of House of Workers, announced in April that
two thousand production units are faced with financial crises and every year on
average "200 thousand workers" are being laid off.
He went on to add that the government plan to end subsidies will exacerbate this
situation.
Iranian Employment Minister announced that Iran's unemployment rate stands at
11.3 percent while The Economist magazine puts Iran's unemployment rate
at 13.2 percent.
