Thousands of nurses converged in front of the Parliament on Sunday Feb. 22 to take part in a protest gathering. The rally in which was called for in advance, took place with a large crowd attending, despite security and plain cloths harassment and threats to disperse. The gathering at the northern gate of the parliament started with about 1,000 nurses and medical staff, but it grew by hour and through half way in to the protest the number of demonstrators reached over 2,000 people.
The protesting nurses had come from different cities in Iran including Yazd, Khorasan, Hamadan, Mazanderan, Gilan and Isfahan. One protesting medical staff said: the actual number of discontent nurses is much greater than this, but due to difficulties and travel complications, many could not arrive at the protest.
This is the third time that nurses are taking part in a demonstration. The rally ended about noon Sunday with a statement being read by the representatives.