Discontent among merchants due to a 60% decrease in sales attributed to the presence of the morality police, exerting pressure on Iranian women and violating individual and social freedoms, has become a concern for half of Iran’s population, especially women who do not adhere to compulsory hijab, with the return of the “Morality Police” under the guise of the “Light Plan” (tarh-e noor). This concern, as reported by Etemad newspaper, has also gripped businesses.
On May 1, the state-run Etemad newspaper ran a field report from Tehran, narrating the dissatisfaction of merchants who claim that with the return of the “Morality Police,” especially women customers have significantly decreased.
One shopkeeper told Etemad: “People prefer to change their route rather than confront the morality police. When the morality police car stops near us, or even when it passes by, we are stressed the whole time, fearing they might seal the shop.”
Although the economic conditions of society contribute to market stagnation, according to merchants and shopkeepers as reported by Etemad, “the presence of the morality police in the streets and the fear of sellers and buyers from sealing and arrests” have significantly reduced their sales and worsened conditions.
Another shopkeeper told Etemad that he cannot force people who do not believe in hijab. He criticized the country’s economic situation, saying, “The economic situation, which is already bad, has worsened due to these events, reducing our sales by about 20 to 30 percent.”
An old wholesaler told Etemad that the head of the garment union asked him not to let unveiled women in, a behavior which, according to this 63-year-old merchant, “is not in his dignity and ethics.” He said, “They expect things that are not feasible.”
Many sellers told Etemad that “our customers have decreased by 60%. No one dares to come here anymore. When a customer wants to leave, they follow them with motorcycles and vans, grab them, throw them into the van, and take them away.”
Since April 13, the crackdown on hijab by the police in Iran has resumed, and reports indicate the enforcement officers’ violence in the new round of confrontation with the people to impose compulsory hijab. From the detention and arrest of women who do not believe in compulsory hijab to the sealing of medical, recreational, and restaurant centers.
This police action has faced widespread criticism on social networks. Some media have also written that the bill known as the “Chastity and Hijab” has not yet become law and has no legal basis.
The majority of Iranians have condemned the regime’s violent actions against women by the so-called morality police and considered the continuation of government policies in this regard as “contrary to the law and public freedoms.”
Thus, the Iranian regime attempts to suppress the people under the pretext of inappropriate hijab to prevent uprising and protest, protests that peaked in 2022 after the killing of Mahsa Amini. In these protests, at least 750 people were killed by state security forces, and more than 30,000 were arrested. The Iranian regime has no solution other than increasing repression to control the explosive social atmosphere.
