Forty days after the deadliest of last month’s clashes in Tehran, Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim of the LA Times report on the latest batch of confrontations:
Thousands and possibly tens of thousands of mourners, many of them black-clad young women carrying roses, overwhelmed security forces today at Tehran’s largest cemetery to gather around the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose videotaped shooting at a June 20 demonstration stunned the world.
….Afterward, the crowds began to gather in front of central Tehran’s Grand Mossala mosque, defying authorities who had prohibited the use of the site. Protesters chanted slogans as they rode the subway to the venue, setting the stage for more clashes as dusk approached.
Jon Leyne, the BBC’s Tehran correspondent, comments:
It’s an ominous moment for the government. Those who run the Islamic Republic know only too well the cycle of protests, killings, then Arbayeen ceremonies from 1979, a cycle that helped bring them to power. They must fear history repeating itself, as similar anniversaries approach 40 days after protesters killed in the recent protests.
….The protests now are not remotely on the scale of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of demonstrators who came onto the streets immediately after the election. But they are happening despite repeated threats and intimidation, and they are keeping up the pressure on the government.
This isn’t over yet. There are too many power brokers on the side of the demonstrators who have a vested interest in keeping things hot. Stay tuned.
