A group of retirees demonstrated in front of the Employment and Social Security ministry and chanted “torture and smear (documentaries) do not work anymore.”

By documentaries, they refer to the propaganda piece made by the national TV framed as a documentary (a common practice by the IRIB) in which the forced confessions of Esmail Bakhshi, the arrested and tortured labor activist, was broadcasted. The documentary claimed the workers' protests across the country were being led by anti-Islamic Republic groups.

Now the retirees are saying that these methods have lost their power, and that they will continue to express their demands. The retirees have repeatedly protested their low pensions and their terrible living conditions.

In the Summer of 2018, the president of the National Pension Fund announced that the purchasing power of the retirees has dropped more than 67 percent.

The protesting retirees are from various fields, including education, armed forces, and government employees. Often there is news of their protest in front of the related ministries and the arrest of some of them.

Their chant is reminiscent of the famous chant during the revolution “Artillery, Tanks, and Machine Guns do not work anymore.”