May Day in Sanandaj

At 5pm on May 1 2009 workers and their families gathered in Sanandaj's Amiriyeh Park to commemorate International Labour Day. The May Day celebration was disrupted after 15 minutes when police and plain-clothes security officers attacked those gathered, beating them and arresting 12 people.

Mansour Karimi, Ms Shiva Sohani, Ms Leila Khalili and Kourosh Bakhshandeh are among those arrested. To break up the gatheirng the security forces used tear gas, pepper spray, and even beat women and children.

Sanandaj, in Kudistan, is one of the main centres of workers' struggles in Iran.

Source: Pursuit Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations