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More political, soccer-related unrest in Iran follows Bahrain victory

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Sunday, June 12, 2005

More unrest occurred overnight across Iran following the national soccer team's June 9 victory over the team from neighboring Bahrain in a World Cup qualification match.

Soccer Jubilation Pushes Boundaries

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The match marked the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that women could attend a soccer match. A group of one hundred pre-selected women were admitted to the game under official escort; a protest group of a further twenty-six women attempted to gain admission, but were dispersed by police.

A young Tehran resident reported via instant messenger that she heard what appeared to be raucous celebrating outside the night of the 1-0 victory over Bahrain. She had been babysitting that night, and returned quickly home, having decided it was probably not safe to investigate the crowds after hearing a large boom, which she attributed to pranksters possibly detonating outsized illegal fireworks. However, she also noticed that a public telephone had been damaged.

If utilities were being damaged, it is very possible that the boom was produced not by a high explosive, but by the bursting of sodium vapor lamp bulb that had been knocked over by vandals -- this reporter has seen it happen before, and can attest that it sounds very much like an explosion.

Some Crowds Get Political

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In the city of Tabriz in East Azerbaijan, demonstrators reportedly tore down a large poster of the late Ayatollah Khomeini (founder of the present Islamic Republic of Iran) and burned it while chanting "Freedom!" and anti-regime slogans. The crowds of young people caused traffic congestion, apparently halting movement through the center city for several hours. Numerous arrests have been reported. The city is home to a substantial Turkic Azeri minority, but the unrest seems to be political in nature, not ethnic.

Meanwhile, in the theological center of Qom, reformist politician Behzad Navabi was attacked by a group of about thirty unidentified men who apparently disagreed with his political platform. The group employed lethal and non-lethal weapons, including tear gas, to disrupt Navabi's political rally. Navabi reports that he suffered a skull fracture and numerous cuts and bruises in the attack. Police clashed with the attackers, and eventually arrested some of them. Navabi is a member of the Mujahadeen of Islamic Revolution party and a backer of reform presidential candidate Mustafa Moin.


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