Posted on 06/12/2003 11:29:43 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
The Reuters News Agency's local office in Iran has issued another MIS-report on the actions which rocked, yesterday evening, the Iranian Capital. A news issued by this news agency of British origin was titled as "Iranian political protests continue, but smaller".
This is not the first time that for an "unknown" specific reason the British news agency tries to undermine the amplor and extent of news which are able to show the extent of the popular rejection of the Islamic regime including its so-called "reformist" faction that European countries are continuing to support and promote.
It is to note that the yesterday evening's unrest was much bigger than the precedented 2 nights and the extent of the brutality used by the regime shows the degree of its panic.
Some believe that the Reuters reporter who has written the article might have, or follow his agency's interests linked to the British Industrial lobbies; Or that have been present, only, at the beginning of the yesterday evening's unrest and at a time that many Iranians were still ho,e watching the exceptional broadcast of Reza Pahlavi's interview by most of the abroad based oppostion TV networks.
Even the conservative Associated Press was much "fair", this time, in its way of reporting on yestertady's events despite it usually promotes the same "reformist" faction by sacryfing the ethic of Journalism and impartial reporting.
The Reuters' controversial article is as follow:
" Iranian political protests continue, but smaller
TEHRAN, June 13 (Reuters) - Protests against clerical rule continued in the Iranian capital for a third night on Friday, but the number of demonstrators fell to just a few hundred.
A few dozen students chanted "Freedom, freedom" and "Democracy, democracy", while around 300 other demonstrators gathered in streets close to a Tehran University dormitory.
Similar protests on Wednesday and Thursday had drawn around 3,000 demonstrators.
A heavy security presence of police, plainclothes officials and hardline Islamic militiamen on motorbikes outnumbered the demonstrators and prevented them from getting close to the university campus. Riot police sat in black trucks nearby.
Students and Islamic militiamen threw stones at one another, but there were no major clashes, witnesses said.
The protests -- which are directed against pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami as well as the hardline clerics who have blocked his efforts to improve democracy, justice and social freedoms -- follow sustained pressure on Iran by Washington, which has stepped up its criticism of Tehran since the war in Iraq.
U.S. officials accuse Iran on seeking nuclear arms, backing "terrorist" groups and meddling in Iraq. Iran denies the charges.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell this week said Washington hoped Iranians would instigate change from within to make Iran a "less troublesome member of the world community".
The head of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim establishment, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Washington on Thursday of stirring up trouble in the country and warned that authorities would show no mercy with the "hired mercenaries of the enemy".
YOUNG POPULATION
At least 80 people have been arrested since the protests began on Wednesday, although many were later released.
On each occasion the demonstrations have started around midnight. Wednesday and Thursday protests each lasted for about three hours.
Analysts say the protests, while small, reflect widespread frustration in Iran, where about 70 percent of the 65 million population is under 30 years old and has little or no memory of the 1979 Islamic revolution led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"The key thing to watch is whether this spreads to other cities or the size of the turnout grows," said Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at Durham University in England.
"If the silent majority start to sense that change is in the air and the balance of power is, shifting they could join in."
U.S.-based Iranian exile satellite television stations, which have played a key role in getting demonstrators out onto the streets in recent days, have called for tens of thousands to protest in Tehran on Friday.
Witnesses say the protesters have shouted some of the boldest chants heard in the country since the Islamic revolution.
These include "Death to dictators!" and "Death to Khamenei!" -- deliberate copies of the "Death to America!" slogan ritually chanted at public ceremonies and Friday Prayer meetings.
To read the account by account reports from the students go to:
http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/news/
The next thing to watch for is the soccer game in Tehran today. It will attract 100,000 and the regime tried to cancel it, but changed it mind. Watch for further reports on this tommorow.
GOOD!!
Mullahs had better pray that it turns out to be a boring game, 0:0 draw with no exciting plays. Either a stunning victory or a humiliating defeat could set off crowds to a frenzy.
Haven't other riots/demonstrations in the past occurred at big soccer matches? Under these conditions (three days of heavy protests) this could get ugly.
Power to those who love freedom !
Back to the Mosque, Mullahs !
Some of the greatest "football" riots happen after a nil-nil tie. You have a bunch of hooligans ginned-up (can they do that in a Muslim country) and taunting the other team since the crack of dawn. If neither favorite team cannot settle their "who's better / who's best" grude-match on the field, they tend to take care of it themselves.
There's a lot of misplaced pride invested in a bunch of people who can bop what used to be an inflated goat stomach off their heads.
Exactly. I don't want us to send in troops and bombs, but I don't have a problem with letting the rebels know that we will help them keep peace and re-build *after* they have prevailed.
I don't think we could provide them with much useful. Our tactical assistance is designed to help armies - not demonstrators and resisters.
Training for how to keep peace after an overthrow might be the most useful thing we could do.
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