Café Owners Gather in Protest Against Closure of 150 Cafés in Tabriz

The local website 'Anaj' reported that a group of café owners gathered in front of the Tabriz police headquarters to protest the closure of 150 cafés in the city. On Tuesday, February 1, they represented other café owners and demanded a reconsideration of the closures and sealing of these cafés. According to these individuals, in recent days, the places of business department sealed numerous cafés and informed café owners that they must vacate their shops within 24 hours. The protesters stated that they had completed some legal steps to obtain permits for operating cafés from the tax office, municipality, and café owners' union, but 'the officials in the licensing section do not issue permits for unknown reasons.' In Iran, the police are the final authority for issuing or revoking permits for cafés, coffee houses, juice shops, and many service-providing establishments. The police have strict criteria and regulations for issuing permits for these places, and if any of them are violated, they proceed to seal these establishments. Since the rise of cafés in Iran, the police have sealed dozens of cafés for not complying with Islamic laws and have prohibited their continued operation. Last December, the newspaper 'Shahrvand' reported on 'the most unprecedented wave of sealing famous cafés in Tehran,' stating that the police sealed 25 cafés in one week. In September of the same year, Khalil Helali, the head of the police's places department, announced a ban on the employment of women in cafés, coffee houses, and 'public spaces' of traditional tea houses, which received significant reactions at the time. Despite the tough conditions for obtaining permits for cafés and their sealing, reports indicate the expansion of cafés in various cities in Iran. Café owners in the city stated that following the sealing of 150 cafés, at least 450 people have been added to the unemployed population of the city.