Beheshti Commemoration

Questo spazio è diventato un po’ stile “blog in affitto” (gratuito, ovviamente) per le due ragazze che tentano di aggiornarmi – quando possono – dall’Iran: volentieri ricevo e pubblico, come si diceva un tempo, e tento di non strumentalizzare la questione – tranne rari casi di abbozzato sdegno, come nell’ultimo post – né di esprimere particolari ragionamenti sulla situazione iraniana. D’altra parte mi sembra così autoevidente dove stia la ragione e dove il torto, che mi pare quasi superfluo sottolinearlo ancora; e le sempre più rare immagini che giungono dal paese sembrano dimostrarlo ogni giorno di più.

(per un approfondimento in italiano e piuttosto “sul pezzo”, comunque, si veda alla voce Lorenzo Cairoli)

(fonte: Big Picture)

Yesterday it was supposed to be an authorized ceremony of commemoration of martyrs of 7th Tir, and theoretically there shouldn’t have been so many police forces as there was. The commemoration was in Ghoba Mosque which is quite a small one in depth of small alleys on Shariati Ave. So it was difficult to get there and it was easy to block the ways to it as they did.

Riot police and Basij were everywhere in the vicinity and had blocked the ways to the Ghoba Mosque: there were many people but as it is banned to stop by (!) we had to walk up and down the street, wondering how to get in. These days you can only walk the city: if you stand still, you risk a baton. Finally from a back street and many turns we got near the Mosque, where suprisingly there were many many people among which a famous comedian actor, scriptwriter and director, Reza Attaran, who was there with his green T-shirt and headband.

Mousavi never arrived though he got near. But the other reformist candidate Karroubi arrived in Shariati Avenue and walked towards the Mosque. Where he got off his car, the crowd went towards him chanting “Allah Akbar” and at this moment riot police dispersed people by tear gas and batons, kicking men and women. The whole zone was in gas and the unrest continued for couple hours.

In the back streets we came across Mr. Ali Motahhari who lives nearby, a parliament member and son of Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, an Iranian scholar, cleric, University lecturer and politician who was assassinated by gunshot in 1979. Ali Motahhari recently appeared in a very funny TV transmission in which he confirmed the election and called it “safe and honest”. People on the street were reacting to him, some complaining, others crying and some shouting: “Down with dictator!”.

By the end of the night we got to know that Reza Attaran was arrested by plain cloth police yesterday and still there is no evidence where he is. Ahmadinejad government has succeeded in transforming what was a mass movement into dispersed pockets of unrest like yesterday. They combined a most brutal clampdown on protesters with propaganda alleging that the opposition movement was orchestrated by foreign elements and exiled opposition groups. This increases distrust and anger of people who made the mass emerge, not taking order from any group or element.