Iran stages pro-government rallies,
derides Trump 'blunder' at U.N.
Send a link to a friend
[January 16, 2018]
DUBAI (Reuters) - Thousands of
government supporters staged rallies in Iran for a fourth day on
Saturday, in a backlash against widespread protests that the clerical
establishment has blamed on the country's enemies.
Saturday's show of support came a day after Iran's foreign minister said
a United Nations Security Council meeting called by the United States to
discuss the protests had proved a "blunder" by the administration of
U.S. President Donald Trump.
State television showed rallies in cities including Amol, Semnan and
Shadegan waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America", "Death to
Israel" and "Death to Britain".
More than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,000
arrested, according to Iranian officials, in the biggest anti-government
protests for nearly a decade.

Unrest spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of
young and working class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and
a deepening gap between rich and poor.
Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities on Friday said the
protests had shown sign of abating, after the government intensified a
crackdown on protesters by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to
several provinces.
The provincial governor in northeastern Mashhad, where the protests
started, was quoted as saying on Saturday that 85 percent of detainees
there had been release after signing a pledge not to re-offend.
"Those with a criminal record, or those charged with sabotage such a
setting fire to motorcycles or damaging public buildings have been
referred to judicial authorities," governor Alireza Rashidian told the
ISNA news agency.
Tehran University Vice-President Majid Sarsangi said the university had
set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the
unrest.
"Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the
relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the
detained students to the university and their families in the shortest
possible time," Sarsangi told ISNA.
[to top of second column]
|

People take part in pro-government rallies, Iran, January 3, 2018.
Tasnim News Agency/Handout via REUTERS

Separately, a member of parliament said about 90 students were
detained, 10 of whom were still not accounted for.
"It seems that the total number of detainees is around 90. Ten
students from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an
uncertain position, and ... it is still unknown which body has
detained them," the labor news agency ILNA quoted reformist
politician Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying.
Iran has several parallel security bodies and residents say arrests
are often not immediately announced.
Videos that appeared on social media in recent days showed relatives
of detainees gathering outside prisons to seek information about the
fate of their loved ones.
A United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss the
protests turned into criticism of the United States for requesting
to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for
Iran.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: "The UNSC rebuffed
the U.S.'s naked attempt to hijack its mandate ... Another FP
(foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."
Iran's elite Guards and its affiliated Basij militia suppressed the
country's 2009 unrest over alleged election fraud, in which dozens
of pro-reform Iranians were killed.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 |