TEHRAN Representatives of eyeglass production unions nationwide gathered in front of the Interior Ministry building on Tuesday to protest against what they called the Health Ministry's interference in the eyeglass manufacturers' guild.

The chairman of the Eyeglass Producers' Association in Tehran, Qasem Samghabadi, told IRNA that 5,000 eyeglass factories and workshops all over Iran are covered by the guild law, but the Health Ministry is trying to override the guild and assign the job to about 600 ophthalmologists.