NCRI, 07 October 2010 – A strike by gold sellers in Iran has spread throughout the country and entered its ‎third straight week on Wednesday with merchants declaring that they will back down the ‎fulfillment of their demands.‎
Fort the past fourteen days, Iranian gold and jewelry merchants have launched a strike to ‎protest a proposed plan by the regime to raise taxes.‎
The clerical regime has in turn resorted to threats and intimidations, in one case sending ‎its agents to the gold merchant union to frighten sellers into ending the strike, and in ‎other cases by plastering notices on walls around the Tehran Bazaar calling for the ‎opening of the stores.‎
The merchants have said that they will not end their strike unless the regime backs down ‎from plans to raise the value-added tax by three percent.‎
According to obtained reports, the grand bazaar at Tehran’s Sabzeh Meydan remained ‎closed on Tuesday with merchants resisting the regime’s intimidation tactics.‎
Other reports indicate that the gold bazaar in Kermanshah is also shut down. On Tuesday, ‎at around 4 PM local time, plainclothes agents violently attacked gold merchants at the ‎western city’s grand bazaar, breaking shutters to force an end to the strike.‎
But, according to these reports, gold sellers resisted the attack and clashed with the ‎regime’s agents. Several young gold sellers are said to have been arrested.‎