maven
07-09-2009, 09:29 AM
Al Jazeera reporting students now saying that they are protesting to "support the Mujahaddin." A sign that a more revolutionary path may now be being pursued than that of Mousavi.
=Police fire tear gas and bullets to disperse Tehran protests=
(Atta Kenare/EPA)
July 10, 1999: the student protests were marked with another demonstration today
Philippe Naughton Iranian police fired tear-gas and shots into the air today to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had defied official warnings and staged a march to mark the 10th anniversary of a bloody student uprising.
Protesters chanted “Death to the dictator” as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the 1999 protests, which were crushed by police and Basiji vigilantes.
Today, police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, according to eyewitnesses. Police then fired a second volley of the gas.
“Police used tear gas twice to disperse the crowd. There was also many Basij militia on motorbikes patrolling the area,” said one witness.
Until the events of the past month, the protests in July 1999 had been the most serious challenge faced by the Islamic regime. They began with a peaceful demonstration at Tehran University, which provoked a brutal attack by police and Basiji militiamen.
Groups of students have held small commemorative gatherings in previous years, but the Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon issued a blunt warning for this year’s anniversary. “If some people make moves that are contrary to security initiatives under the influence of anti-revolutionary networks, they will be trampled under the feet of our alert people,” he told the official Irna news agency.
Iranian authorities have banned all gatherings amid a fierce crackdown on dissent and free speech since the official results of the June 12 election, which Mr Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, called a "shameful fraud".
Witnesses said leaflets had been distributed in several Tehran squares urging people to join today's march, although Mr Mousavi had neither endorsed nor encouraged it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6675448.ece
=Police fire tear gas and bullets to disperse Tehran protests=
(Atta Kenare/EPA)
July 10, 1999: the student protests were marked with another demonstration today
Philippe Naughton Iranian police fired tear-gas and shots into the air today to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had defied official warnings and staged a march to mark the 10th anniversary of a bloody student uprising.
Protesters chanted “Death to the dictator” as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the 1999 protests, which were crushed by police and Basiji vigilantes.
Today, police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, according to eyewitnesses. Police then fired a second volley of the gas.
“Police used tear gas twice to disperse the crowd. There was also many Basij militia on motorbikes patrolling the area,” said one witness.
Until the events of the past month, the protests in July 1999 had been the most serious challenge faced by the Islamic regime. They began with a peaceful demonstration at Tehran University, which provoked a brutal attack by police and Basiji militiamen.
Groups of students have held small commemorative gatherings in previous years, but the Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon issued a blunt warning for this year’s anniversary. “If some people make moves that are contrary to security initiatives under the influence of anti-revolutionary networks, they will be trampled under the feet of our alert people,” he told the official Irna news agency.
Iranian authorities have banned all gatherings amid a fierce crackdown on dissent and free speech since the official results of the June 12 election, which Mr Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, called a "shameful fraud".
Witnesses said leaflets had been distributed in several Tehran squares urging people to join today's march, although Mr Mousavi had neither endorsed nor encouraged it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6675448.ece