— Staff working at the British embassy in Iran have been arrested:
— Iran “must free UK embassy staff.” EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that “harassment or intimidation” of embassy staff would be met with a “strong and collective” response (BBC).
— Riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters..
Riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters near a mosque in north Tehran on Sunday, using tear gas and truncheons to break up Iran's first post-election demonstration in five days, witnesses said.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that some protesters fought back, chanting: "Where is my vote?" They said others described scenes of brutality including the alleged police beating of an elderly woman in the clashes around the Ghoba Mosque.
Read the full story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8122871.stm
ReplyDelete(News reports on LCI.fr today, the 28th June, say around 2000 people have been arrested and hundreds have been reported missing in Iran).
Another worrying development in this crisis... So easy condemnations about the situation in Honduras, so difficult to speak on behalf of the Iranian people.
ReplyDelete"The Revolution Is Not Over" (Andrew Sullivan)
ReplyDeletehttp://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-revolution-is-not-over.html
Andrew Sullivan's analysis is good, but having seen the video (that for some reason seems to be censored by the Western media) of Ahmadinejad's reunion with his henchmen including representatives of the Taliban, and considering the brutality and uncompromising attitude of the Iranian authorities, I feel that there is something else to consider. It seems obvious to me that the Iranian authorities have a bellicose program that they would be most reluctant to wave. The stakes might well be far greater than one would like to think. It's not simply an argument over voting results in any case. There was never any question of Ahmadinejad losing, and so long as 'the program' (qui va bouleverser la planète) is given priority, there will be no question of compromising. The present, meaningless, token gestures of recounting 10% of the votes are only inadequate attempts to appease the people, if not world opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe danger of what seems to be a real, abominable possibilty, should encourage the Iranians capable of reasoning, never to abandon their cause. The risk is further
aggravated by the possibility of external, 'self defensive action' from a directly threatened State. Such an external engagement on their or on anyone's part, would be enough to unite the Iranians behind Ahmadinejad. When he stated that they have to act quickly, perhaps he was referring to an Iranian engagement, that could also be, in his eyes, a means to unite the Iranians behind him.
The situation in Iran is probably going to get worse before it gets better. I'm not sure why they arrested (detained) the British Embassy's local staff, but the Brits are lucky they didn't take British diplomats hostage. The U.S. has some experience in that regard....
ReplyDelete