Taxi and minibus drivers in Malayer stage strike

Reports from Iran say that following tremendous increases in the prices of basic commodities, especially after the new Iranian year that began on March 21, popular protests throughout the country have escalated.

On April 2, 3 and 4, taxi drivers in Malayer, 400 km southwest of Tehran, staged a city-wide strike to protest the price increases, particularly gasoline prices. They also demanded a hike that taxi fares.

Subsequently, minibus drivers operating between Malayer and Nahavand, and Malayer and Boroujerd, stopped working and called for increases in minibus fares.

Despite intervention by local authorities, drivers have refused to resume work and the situation in the city is described as very tense.

In a related development, President of Malayer's Payam-e Nour University resigned in protest to the lack of attention to the universty's problems and insufficient facilities for the students. The university has been the scene of four-month-long strike in protest to these shortages. Instead of meeting the students' demands, officials plan to close down the university.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - Paris April 7, 1996

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