http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/0304/newswire031604-iran.htm

Iran: Non-Violent Demonstrations Continue Against Regime

March 16, 2004

MND NEWSWIRE/SMCCDI

Noise of fire crackers' explosions and celebration have started to echo in most Iranian cities before the night fall. Millions of Iranians have come into the streets, in the late hours of the afternoon, in another show of defiance to the regime and its security forces which are staying, for right now, afar contenting to look the crowd.

In practically each street and avenue of main cities, such as, Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Mashad, Tabriz, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Oroomiah (former Rezai-e) large fire crackers are exploding as a prelude to a massive and unprecedented celebration of one of main Iranian cultural heritage and Islamic taboo breaking events.

The night will be very long for the regime forces which have tried to get ready for avoiding popular demos and riots at the occasion of such night and thousands of freedom lovers are intending to create another nightmare for the ruling clerics.

Young freedom lovers are using various occasion in order to throw the big home made fire crackers under the errant security forces cars and motorbikes that are trying to reach their posts. More actions are planned for after the night fall.

This report part of a content-sharing agreement between MND News Services and The Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) .

From SMCCDI: daneshjoo.org

SMCCDI News
Sporadic and minor clashes start with night fall and streets enflame
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 16, 2004

Sporadic and minor clashes have started in several areas of the Iranian Capital, Tehran and its suburbs, especially in the southern, eastern and western areas as the night has fall and streets are enflame with thousands of fire set for celebrating the traditional but banned "Tchahar Shanbe Soori".

This time is no more the security forces that are taking initiative of attack but young exasperated Iranians who are throwing hand made grenades and powerful fire crackers against them and forcing them take distance. Several security patrols cars and bikes caught in the middle of the crowd have been damaged by fire or abandoned as its occupants preferred to escape from crowd which is making use of the sirens and speakers of governmental confiscated repressive tools for broadcasting songs under the desperate eyes of the regime forces.

Same trend is getting followed in several provincial cities, such as Esfahan, Shiraz , Hamedan and Kermanshah .

Never, never, Iran had witnessed such celebration as the issue has become of a matter of National and Freedom emblem for millions of Iranians.

The night is just at its start and major actions of defiance are expected till the early hours of Wednesday.

From SMCCDI: daneshjoo.org

SMCCDI News
Regime forces pull back from demonstrators in most Iranian cities
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 16, 2004

The Islamic regime forces have pulled back from the demonstrators in several Iranian cities, such as, Tehran , Abadan , Shiraz , Bookan, Babolsar, Khoram-Shahr, Sannandaj, Bandar Abbas and Zahedan. It seems that fearing a general uprising while millions of Iranians are in the streets of all Iranian cities, has forced the regime to take such unprecedented decison or to be waiting for a specific moment to start the crackdown.

In All these cities fires have been set and many residents have throwned pictures of the regime's leaders and its founder, Rooh-Ollah Khomeini, in fire while chanting and dancing under the eyes of the powerless forces of the Islamic republic. Astonishingly, the regime forces haven't even intervene when several plainclothes men were identified and arrested by maverick Iranian freedom fighters or that masked youth have thrown on them incendiary devices.

What's going on this evening has never been seen and the night is just at its start and will be very long for the regime.

From SMCCDI: daneshjoo.org

SMCCDI News
Regime anti-riot forces start attacking
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 16, 2004

The Islamic republic regime's anti-riot units and plainclothes men have opened the charge, at this time 21:35 local time, against the demonstrators in southern Tehran , Esfahan's Tchahr Bagh and the city of Mashad by using knives, clubs and chains. Unconfirmed reports are stating about the use of plastic bullets in Esfahan and the Sadeghieh square of Tehran .

Several have been badly wounded during the attacks but fierce resistance is being made by thousands of young Iranians, male and female, who are opposing the attacks by the use of all available tools and especially Molotov cocktails which were made for such eventuality.

From SMCCDI: daneshjoo.org

Current News & Articles
Tens of militiamen injured due to popular resistance
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 16, 2004

Tens of the usually feared Islamic regime's militiamen have been injured in the violent clashes which rocked, this evening, most Iranian cities at the occasion of the the popular celebration of the banned "Tchahr Shanbe Soori" (Fire Fiest). Unconfirmed reports are stating about the death of several militiamen in Tehran 's Guisha district, Nasr avenue , and in provincial cities, such as, Khoram Abad and Bushehr where Militia's Colonel Ghassem Mattaf has been shot to death.

Tens of militiamen were wounded due to heavy burns inflicted by young Iranians who used of powerful hand made grenades and Molotv Coktails in order to break the security forces' brutal assaults.

Clashes were extremly violent especially in several areas of Tehran , such as, Eslam-Shahr, Guisha, Madar, Vali e Asr, Narmak, Rey, Sadeghieh, Karadj and as well in provincial cities, such as, Esfahan and Bushehr. Angry demonstrators used of heavy explosive devices and even guns confiscated from plainclothes men in order to resist to the regime forces and even to take revenge.

Tens of security patrol cars or bikes as well as official buildings and homes and facilities affiliated to the regime's men have been damaged by fire or explosion.

Thousands of pictures of the regime's founder, Rooh-Ollah Khomeini, and the current officials were burned by the various crowd in each city.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/03/16/iran.festival.reut

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 Posted: 6:37 PM EST (2337 GMT)

Iranians celebrate fire festival

TEHRAN , Iran (Reuters) -- Iranians danced in the street, threw firecrackers and jumped over bonfires Tuesday night as authorities openly tolerated an ancient fire festival for the first time in 25 years.

Halted each year since the 1979 Islamic revolution because hardliners considered it un-Islamic, the Chaharshanbeh Suri, or Red Wednesday, festival was officially recognized in Tehran where the city council set aside dozens of parks for people to enjoy the boisterous celebrations.

Tens of thousands packed the streets of the capital hurling firecrackers into the air to mark the eve of the last Wednesday of the Iranian calendar year.

The festival dates back centuries to pre-Islamic times and is thought to be derived from Zoroastrian traditions which accord special properties to fire.

The Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 this year, coincides with the spring equinox. Unlike previous years, when riot police blocked off streets and hardline Islamic vigilantes beat and arrested many trying to enjoy the festivities, security forces were virtually absent.

Old and young reveled in the new-found freedom.

"They wanted to try to stop this tradition but it will never die," said businessman Mahmoud Afshar, as his young children and neighbors leaped over a small bonfire in western Tehran .

"I think they realize now that every limitation they try to put on society has a negative effect," he said, adding that he and his family had been harassed by police when trying to mark the festival in previous years.

In an act meant to exorcise evil spirits and bring good luck for the coming year, people light small bonfires and jump over the flames shouting: "Give me your beautiful red color and take back my sickly pallor!."

Special noodle soups are prepared and shared among friends and neighbors. Passers-by are handed nuts and dried fruits.

The decision by Tehran City Council -- which religious hardliners won control of in elections last year -- to officially recognize the festival surprised many.

A council official, who declined to be named, explained: "Some are opposed to celebrating Chaharshanbeh Suri on religious grounds but it's a deep-rooted tradition and no-one can deny it. So we decided the best way was to designate some places to celebrate it."

Some clerics were appalled by the decision.

"The superstitious ceremony of Chaharshanbeh Suri is incompatible with the dignity and understanding of the Muslim Iranian nation," Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani said in a statement this week.

"Muslims should remain vigilant and...understand the enemy's goal in reviving this dead and obsolete tradition."

The evening festivities are also an opportunity for young Iranians to meet and flirt in a country where mixing in public between unrelated members of the opposite sex is outlawed.

In one street in western Tehran youngsters danced by blazing bonfires as loud music blared from houses and passing cars.

Some felt the sudden official acceptance of the festival was a ploy by the country's rulers after hardliners won parliamentary elections last month. Reformists, who favor greater political and social freedoms, say the poll was rigged.

"They want to distract the young so they don't have anything to do with politics," said Mahran Izadi, 28, who had stuffed cotton wool in his ears to dull the noise of constant firecracker explosions.

http://mensnewsdaily.com

Iran : Mainstream Media Ignores Historic Uprising Against Islamic Regime
March 17, 2004, by Amber Pawlik

Massive uprisings broke out in several major Iranian cities recently – as Iranian youth demonstrated against the Islamic regime of Iran . The uprising came while Iranians celebrated "Tchahr Shanbe Soori" (Fire Fiest) – a holiday of the Iranian heritage and is distinctly not Islamic. The Iranian youth used firecrackers, placed under the Islamic regime’s security guards’ cars, and home made grenades while rebelling against the Islamic regime, and publicly burned pictures of the Ayatollah.

This is a major event for the Iranian youth, and yet hardly any Western media has picked up on it, let alone given an accurate portrayal of what is going on. However, there is one news site that gave an accurate portrayal of the situation, straight from Iranian news sites: mensnewsdaily.com

Here is how CNN.com described the situation:

Iranians danced in the street, threw firecrackers and jumped over bonfires Tuesday night as authorities openly tolerated an ancient fire festival for the first time in 25 years.

A “fire festival”!? “Boisterous celebrations”! It’s not a massive uprising of oppressed students under a militant Islamic regime – it’s a party! It’s the goddam Fourth of July! And aren’t those mullahs nice guys for allowing it.

I honestly have never read such an evil piece of “journalism.”

I do not know exactly why the Western media has been so reluctant to report on what goes on in Iran , especially since they have reported rebellions in the past, or why they always distort what is going on. However, here are some thoughts.

The Western media has been consistently doing an extreme “hack job” of the situation in Iran – insisting that the battle is not between the revolutionary students and their Islamic regime, but rather is between the “reformist” wing of the government and the more “hardlined” conservatives in the government. Reporting the rioting students might eek out the truth that the “reform” movement is bogus, and that the Iranians do not want more “reform” but funndamental regime change.
This Iranian holiday comes and goes every year but it is this year that the students rebelled. Why? Perhaps because the Iranians just watched a neighboring country be liberated from a brutal dictator. And if the Iranians overthrow their government, this is also good for the United States . Western media would be forced to admit: the world is safer and better without Saddam, as regimes collapse and abandon nuclear programs after his arrest.
The Iranian youth are overwhelmingly pro United States . The regime they are rebelling against is full of militant Muslims. The PC left can’t admit that radical Islam is oppressing a population that wants a distinctly secular government.

It is probably for all those reasons that Western media won’t report the Iranian situation, but it is also psychologically rooted. The Western media, professors, etc., identify with the Palestinians and such, because the Palestinians are driven by hatred – the only “freedom” they want is the freedom to blow up their neighbors. But the Iranians genuinely want freedom – the freedom to think and produce and progress. Leftists cannot intellectually sympathize with people who want this kind of freedom. To leftists, the only kind of “freedom” they can understand is the right to smoke marijuana or swear on the radio.

Anyone who has an ounce of a love for life and a desire to see good things happen cannot helped but be romanced by the Iranian youth. The Iranian culture is one that is undeniably beautiful – grounded in secularism, reason, and prosperity. You would have to be completely heartless to talk to an Iranian – to see how bright and accomplished they are, how much good their culture has brought to the world – and not be whisked away, desiring freedom for them.

It is too bad the Western media is so dead set against seeing that happen.

http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/a-b/a-b-misc/azarmehr031704.htm

Festival of Light and Fire, A Defiance of Ruling Clerics
March 17, 2004

by Potkin Azarmehr

The inherent sense of Iranian nationalism has always manifested itself during the darkest hours of Iran 's turbulent history and delivered the nation from certain collapse. To date Iranian nationalism remains the most potent weapon against foreign occupiers and the present day ruling clerics.

For the last 25 years of the Islamic rule, the Iranian New Year Nowrooz, and the Red Wednesday fire Festival, which falls on the last Tuesday evening of the Iranian year, have been the battleground between the Iranian culture of joy, knowledge and life and the non-Iranian culture of mourning, ignorance and martyrdom.

When Ayatollah Khomeini tried to ban these celebrations, the uncompromising reaction of the Iranian people forced him into his first unprecedented retreat.

In more recent years, the coinciding of the Arab lunar calendar and the Shiite mourning month of Moharram with the solar Iranian calendar and the new year celebrations, gave the impression to the clerics that they can use this opportunity to ban these pre-Islamic celebrations at least while they fall in the month of Moharram. Instead the celebrations became even more poignant and more symbolic in terms of showing defiance to the imposed non-Iranian culture of the ruling clerics.

Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani issued his decree by stating earlier this week: "The superstitious ceremony of Chaharshanbeh Suri is incompatible with the dignity and understanding of the Muslim Iranian nation" .

The Islamic regime's security forces tried to reach a compromise this year by not banning the celebrations but declaring only certain official parks in the cities for lawful celebrations. Yet the people and the youth in particular once again turned the Red Wednesday celebrations into a combat zone for the test of forces.

As the youth jumped over the bonfires the traditional ancient rhymes were replaced with anti-government ones. "Cannons, Tanks and Firecrackers: We must kill the Mullahs".

In the Haft-Howz, Falakeh Dovvom and Nirooye Havaii, districts of Tehran more than 10,000 people had gathered. Some women openly removed their scarves encouraging others to do so too. In Mohseni Square , the youth fought back the Law Enforcement Forces. At least 20 government forces were reported badly beaten up by the crowds. In Amir-Abad district the people joined the students and more anti-government slogans were shouted. Police patrol cars, which attempted to disperse the crowd drove away from the scene as the people started throwing home made grenades at them. In Aryashahr, the crowd were throwing pictures of Supreme Leader, Khamenei and Islamic Republic flags on to the bonfires.

Other districts in Tehran like Javadieh, Ferdowsi and Noor similar scenes continued. In some districts the noise prevented the telephone reports from making their reports audible.

Not far from Tehran , in Karaj , the house of the Friday Prayer leader was set on fire copying the similar action by the people in Fereydoon Kenar.

In Yazd , between 7000-8000 people gathered in Atlasi Sq and attacked the known regime agents.

In Booshehr, one revolutionary guard is reported killed.

In Shiraz , the people attacked government agents who were filming them and broke their cameras.

In Kerman , the people were shouting, Referendum, Referendum, This is the cry of nation.

In Sarab, Azarbijan, where the people have a fierce reputation for their fighting capabilities, the local Baseejis were on the run while shouting Allah-Akbar.

As in last year Iran 's Kurdistan contained the biggest scenes of celebrations. Huge bonfires were reported from Marivan and Sannadaj, with the youth openly taunting the regime's forces.

Even in many other places throughout Iran where the celebrations were less political, young boys and girls circled around bonfires, held hands and danced to the music. An unthinkable act in the month of Moharram, even in the pre-Isalmic revolution of 1979.

So on a night where the Islamic state run TV even resorted to showing popular American films to encourage the people of Iran to stay indoors, the fire of Zarathustra remained defiant and rekindled.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/17/1079199288914.html

Sparks fly as Tehran lifts ban on ancient festival

By Paul Hughes
Tehran
March 18, 2004

Iranians danced in the street, threw firecrackers and jumped over bonfires as authorities tolerated an ancient fire festival for the first time in 25 years.

Halted since the 1979 Islamic revolution because hardliners considered it un-Islamic, the Chaharshanbeh Suri, or Red Wednesday, festival was officially recognised in Tehran where the city council set aside dozens of parks for people to enjoy the boisterous celebrations.

Tens of thousands packed the streets of the capital, hurling firecrackers into the air to mark the eve of the last Wednesday of the Iranian calendar year.

The festival dates back centuries to pre-Islamic times and is thought to be derived from Zoroastrian traditions that accord special properties to fire. The Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 this year, coincides with the northern spring equinox.

Unlike previous years, when riot police blocked off streets and hardline Islamic vigilantes beat and arrested many trying to enjoy the festivities, security forces were virtually absent.

"They wanted to try to stop this tradition but it will never die," businessman Mahmoud Afshar said as his young children and neighbours leaped over a small bonfire in western Tehran .
"I think they realise now that every limitation they try to put on society has a negative effect."

He said he and his family had been harassed by police when trying to mark the festival in previous years.

In an act meant to exorcise evil spirits and bring good luck, people light small bonfires and jump over the flames shouting: "Give me your beautiful red colour and take back my sickly pallor!"

Special noodle soups are prepared and shared among friends and neighbours. Passers-by are handed nuts and dried fruits.

Some clerics were appalled by the decision to recognise the festival. "The superstitious ceremony... is incompatible with the dignity and understanding of the Muslim Iranian nation," Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani said this week.

The evening festivities were also an opportunity for young Iranians to meet and flirt in a country where mixing in public between unrelated members of the opposite sex is outlawed.

- Reuters

http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=03&d=17&a=10

Anti-Regime Violence Erupting in Iran As Crowds Burn Pictures of Khamenei

March 17, 2004

The New York Sun

Eli Lake

WASHINGTON -- Iranians reportedly took to the streets in protest of their government last night as a Persian fire ritual in Tehran turned into a pretext for anti-regime violence.

The Iranian Student News Agency, a wire service affiliated with the government there, reported yesterday that explosions could be heard throughout the city after celebrations of a pre-Islamic feast in Iran known as Chaharshambeh Soori turned violent.

According to KRSI, an exile radio station based in California , a crowd of people in Iran 's capital began kindling fires for the holiday with pictures of Iran 's supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in front of the headquarters of the Sepah Pasdaran, the state's security service.

In some clashes in Tehran neighborhoods, KRSI reported from eyewitnesses calling the station on cell phones, crowds of demonstrators threw homemade explosives at the feet of anti-riot police and set patrol cars ablaze.

The Iranian Student News Agency said 44 police garrisons and 60 ambulances had been readied in response to the angry crowds.

Last month, Iran 's unelected Guardian Council disqualified more than 2,000 reformist candidates from running for election to the country's legislative body, known as the Majlis.

The decision led many legislators willing to work within the system to begin to question the utility of pushing for liberal reform, which has been stymied by the country's clerical elites.

Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the celebration of Persian holidays such as Chaharshambeh Soori and the New Year festival of Nowruz has been discouraged and at times banned by the Iranian authorities.

Tehran 's police angered the country's hard-liners by cordoning off 40 areas of the city this year to observe the holiday, where people traditionally jump over bonfires and set small bushes on fire to mark the last Wednesday of the Persian year.

But the decision was not without controversy, as the holiday this year fell in the same Islamic month that Imam Hussein was martyred, a period Iran 's ruling clerics said should be marked without gaiety.

"In all Iranian cities without exception, Iranians celebrated this tradition even when they were attacked by plainclothed officers of the regime," a spokesman in America for the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, Aryo Pirooznia, told The New York Sun yesterday. "They resisted fiercely by using the materials used in celebration of the fire feast."

Mr. Pirooznia said he had received more than two-dozen witness reports yesterday of demonstrators clashing with the government in Tehran alone. He said that some violent demonstrators had devised explosives from yellow and white powder wrapped in cardboard.

"The authorities started to charge in neighborhoods of Sarsabil, Fadeghieh and Shahrak Gharb," he said. "The celebrations turned into demonstrations, with chanting, dancing, and booing and cursing at the security forces sent there. The crowds started to throw pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei into the fire."

The Iranian Student News Agency reported eight people were seriously injured. The agency also reported that 20 people were taken to the emergency room of Motahari and 50 people were taken to the Towhid hospital in the Tehran metropolitan area. Cab drivers, the news agency said, were volunteering to take injured citizens to hospitals free of charge. The Associated Press and CNN did not report anti-regime violence yesterday.

"It is our view that the human-rights situation in Iran has been taking a turn for the worse," a State Department official told the Sun yesterday. "On the whole it would seem Iran is less democratic now than it was three to four years ago. We take domestic developments in Iran very seriously and we will be talking to other countries that do have diplomatic representation in Iran to find out about these reports."

The State Department was particularly critical last month of the elections to the Majlis. More recently, Secretary of State Powell has criticized the Iranian regime for threatening to end cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, after pledging to allow unannounced inspections in the fall.

The IAEA has recently disclosed that Iran 's nuclear energy program was almost definitely a cover for weapons research, a position shared by the American intelligence community.

The president of the Washington based International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, Jack DuVall, said the violent demonstrations in Tehran were a troubling development. "If the regime is authoritarian any domestic violence reinforces the regime's position because ultimately their power derives from their armed defenders. When violence occurs in the public space those defenders do reflexively what they are hired and expected to do and that reinforces both the authority as well as the control mechanisms of the regime."

Mr. DuVall was the executive producer of "A Force More Powerful," a documentary on the history of nonviolent conflict in the 20th century that has ended up in the hands of Iranian activists.

Chaharshambeh Soori celebrations are expected to continue today in the run-up to Nowruz festivities this weekend.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=23530&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

1dead, 4 hurt in Iranians' 'chaharshanbeh suri'

TEHRAN, March 17 (AFP) -- An Iranian teenager was killed and some 100 other people injured, four of them seriously, in celebrating an annual "pagan" fire festival which Tehran authorities officially allowed for the first time in years, hospitals said Wednesday.

Witnesses said the 17-year-old had his leg blown off by a home-made explosive which also damaged buildings, adding that the celebrations are becoming more dangerous every year.

For centuries Iranians have jumped over bonfires to purify themselves and chase away evil spirits on the last Tuesday night before the Iranian New Year celebrations at around the spring equinox.

But as Tehran 's youth take advantage of one of the few chances to let their hair down in public, they rival with each other in producing bigger, louder and potentially more destructive fireworks and home-made bombs.

Tehran 's conservative municipality gave official sanction to the festivities this year, breaking a hard line going back years but at the same time trying to ensure better control.

They made 40 city squares available for the celebrations, with firefighters fully deployed to deal with incidents.

Muslim clerics have tried in vain to prevent the rite, which marks the end of winter and dates back to pre-Islamic Zoroastrian times.

But they are confronted by an expanding young generation eager for amusement and opportunities for meeting each other, and the Islamic republic's authorities have ended up tolerating the practice.

"We have nothing against celebrations and merry-making," police chief Morteza Talaie was quoted as saying this year, "as long as the limits are not exceeded."

The official attitude to the festival known as "chaharshanbeh suri" is in line with the image of pragmatism coupled with proper respect for Islamic values that the new conservative authorities have tried to foster since taking over from a reformist municipality that collapsed amid infighting.

This policy is also being pushed by conservatives who took control of parliament in controversial elections last month after hundreds of reformist candidates were disqualified by a conservative watchdog body.