HUNDREDS ARRESTED AFTER VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS BY ANGRY MOBS
TEHERAN 22 Oct. (IPS) Law Enforcement Forces backed by units from Revolutionary Guards and Information Ministry’s anti-riot forces clashed Sunday brutally with thousands of people angry at the surprise defeat of the nation soccer team by the tiny Persian Gulf Island of Bahrain, according to several sources in Tehran and other major Iranian cities.
With Iran defeated and Saudi Arabia scoring 4 to 1 against Thailand, the oil-rich Kingdom’s team is likely to go to the 2002 prestigious World Cup.
Sports commentators speaking to IPS said they were "astonished" at the way the Iranians, considered one of the best in their category, played the game.
As violence spread to the Western and Southern districts of the Capital, LEF and other forces used tear gas and plastic bullets to disperse people, eyewitnesses told Iran press Service.
So far, there had been no confirmation, or reaction to the events from the officials, which had observed same attitude following the demonstrations that rocked Tehran and other Iranian cities after Iran-Iraq play on 12 October.
"The Islamic brigade's commandos have came into action in the Enghelab (former 24 Esfand), Guisha, Ekbatan and the Shahrak Qarb areas with an unprecedented brutality which was never witnessed before", the Los Angeles-based Students Movement Co-ordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), that has branches inside Iran reported from Tehran.
Journalists in Tehran contacted by IPS said many demonstrators had been arrested. "Many of them were badly beaten and injured by the police, the Basij and the Ansar Hezbollah thugs called in to help the LEF", one source reported.
"There are Arabic-speaking plainclothes people among the LEF", one caller told IPS, refusing to identify herself.
Another eyewitness speculated that the so-called "Arabic-speaking" people could be elements from the Iranian-trained Iraqis and Lebanese Hezbollah.
The claims were confirmed by the SMCCDI, saying that the "Commandos are recruited among the foreign sympathisants and fanatic Iranian elements. They have been used, lately and at several occasions, to crackdown on the unrests", the organisation claimed.
"Tehran is almost placed under curfew", one source said.
Similar clashes were also reported taking place in the central city of Esfahan, scene of several violent clashes since the beginning of October, as well as in Shiraz, Tabriz, Mash-had and Sanandaj, among others.
This Protest action is taking place just a day before the official visit of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the Islamic republic leader to Esfahan, starting Monday.
Many of the Public ornaments, installed by the City Hall and the Governor’s office, to welcome the leader have been set on fire, sources reported.
Slogans and posters against the Islamic Republic and its leader, Ayatollah Khameneh’i were displayed by demonstrators, chanting Iranian national songs and carrying Iranian traditional three colours flag, eyewitnesses further said.
"Tear-Gas and Plastic bullets are shot against the demonstrators who are giving slogans against the regime’s leader", one telephone caller claimed, adding that police vehicles, buses and cars had been set on fire and public building attacked and banks looted. ENDS FOOTBALL RIOTS 221001