Shooting at Labor Protest in Takab Leaves Four Municipal Workers Injured

A shooting incident during a labor protest by municipal service workers in Takab, West Azerbaijan has left four protesting workers injured, with various sources offering conflicting accounts of the circumstances of the incident. The protesting workers had gathered in front of the City Council building to demand their overdue wages.

The governor of Takab, Rouhollah Mohammadian, announced in a statement to the IRNA news agency that the injured workers had been discharged from Imam Ali Hospital after receiving medical treatment. The protest was part of an ongoing demonstration by municipal workers that had been going on for several weeks. On Monday, March 3, a group of municipal service workers gathered in the municipal compound to protest several months of unpaid wages. Workers had previously voiced their concerns in a video from a protest five weeks earlier, urging City Council members to focus on securing their overdue wages instead of impeaching the mayor. Eventually, the Takab City Council removed the mayor from office and appointed Mohammad Baqer Rostami as interim mayor on March 3.

According to the human rights news agency Hrana, labor activists reported that law enforcement officers intervened in the protest, leading to violent clashes and gunfire. As a result, four workers sustained injuries. However, Takab’s governor offered a different account, claiming that a security officer fired warning shots in the air in a “safe area” to maintain security and protect himself. He stated that “the bullet ricocheted off the ground, causing injuries to the workers’ legs.”

Mohammadian also confirmed that legal proceedings are underway, stating, “A case has been opened regarding the incident, and investigations are being conducted by the relevant authorities. Those responsible will be dealt with according to the law, regardless of their position.”

ILNA news agency, also reported on the incident, citing a labor source in Takab, indicating that shooting was “unintentional” and occurred after a City Council member called law enforcement to disperse the protest. The labor source told ILNA, “As security forces arrived at the scene, one of the officers cocked his weapon. In response, a worker, fearing the officer’s actions, intervened. A shot was fired, hit the ground, and shrapnel from the bullet struck several workers.”

Labor activists identified the injured workers as Amir Raha, Maqsood Ghorbanpour, Iraj Moradi, and Hamid Navidi. Last year, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), based in Brussels, ranked Iran’s labor conditions as “red” in its annual report. This classification indicates that there are no guaranteed rights for labor unions or workers’ collective actions in the country.