Many shops were closed today in Iran, in the first of a three-day general strike called by social and political organizations to protest against the repression of the wave of protests in the country. Videos posted on social media show closed shops in major Iranian cities. In Tehran some shops are threatened with fines if they close, but despite this many shops have not opened. The Kurdish human rights group Hengaw has announced that 19 cities in the east of the country have joined the national strike, called 14-15-16, after the days of the Persian calendar, during which shopkeepers are asked not to open and citizenship to avoid shopping.
Iran does not give in on the veil and threatens to freeze the accounts
“The veil will return to cover the head of women” but those who transgress will no longer be punished by the “moral police patrols”. The anti-government protest that has been going on for almost three months in Iran has not convinced the regime of the ayatollahs to question the obligation to wear the hijab but the Islamic Republic, at least according to announcements, is on the verge of reducing the methods of control in the law requiring women to cover themselves. One of the punishments for those who do not observe the law will be the blocking of bank accounts, “not immediately but after notifications via sms and other warnings,” announced Hossein Jalali, a member of the culture committee of the Iranian parliament who yesterday had already thundered against the girls who they do not wear the veil, effectively admitting an increasingly widespread phenomenon, at least in some neighborhoods of Tehran, not only during the street demonstrations of recent months where many have defied the ban.