Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download MP3
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tehran today, as both government and opposition supporters staged rallies. The World’s Laura Lynch has details.
Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.
MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. There were clashes on the streets of Tehran today. These were some of the first major confrontations between opposition and government supporter since July. They came as the country marked “Quds” day or Jerusalem day. It’s an annual observance decreed by the government to show support for Palestinians and condemn Israel. But the tensions still simmering in Iran after a disputed presidential election spilled out into the open again, overshadowing the official agenda. The World’s Laura Lynch reports.
LAURA LYNCH: The government organized the marches it wanted to see filling the streets with tens of thousands of people chanting slogans against Israel and America.
WOMAN: [In Farsi]
INTERPRETER: It is true that I, as one person, cannot do much for the Palestinian people. But have come here to be a drop in the ocean of people and prove my solidarity with Palestinians.
LYNCH: But today showed that in Tehran at least, there was precious little solidarity among Iranians. Blocks away from the official rallies, opposition supporters poured into the streets determined to show they had not disappeared in the wake of the government’s crackdown this summer. They wore the green color of the opposition, carried green banners and shouted death to the dictator. One protestor, who we’ll call Akbar, says it didn’t take long for the clashes to start.
AKBAR: There were skirmishes. They burnt down the police house first on their way but again the militias, the plain clothes men were out in force, and it was very, very difficult to maneuver.
LYNCH: Away from the street battles, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad carried on as if all was normal. He spoke before Friday prayers at Tehran University repeating his familiar claim that the Holocaust is a myth.
PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD: [Translated] Four to five years after the Second World War, all of a sudden they claim that during the war, the holocaust had occurred. They claimed that a few million Jews had been burnt in the ovens. They institutionalized two slogans. First they used lies ad sophisticated propaganda and psychological ploys to create the illusion that the Jews were innocent. And secondly, they created the illusion that the Jews needed an independent state and government.
LYNCH: After months of internal turmoil following his disputed re-election, Ahmadinejad is set to remerge onto the international stage. Next week, he’ll travel to New York for the annual general meeting of the United Nations. So Massoumeh Torfeh of the University of London, believes today’s speech was meant to deliver a message of defiance beyond Iran’s borders.
MASSOUMEH TORFEH: And it was in a way saying no to the United States as well and Obama who’s been trying to hard to find some way of engaging with Iran, as they put it themselves. He actually went further than I had heard him before in holocaust denial.
LYNCH: Ahmadinejad’s attack on Israel, his aggressive tone, are nothing new. But now, his strong words, along with his authority, have been weakened by Iran’s internal divisions and his own struggle to hold onto power and influence. Even now, senior clerics still question the outcome of the election along with the jailing and punishment of protestors. And on the streets, Akbar says there could be more violence in the days to come.
AKBAR: I think there is more opposition that there’s going to be even more violence on the horizon unless there is a comprehensive settlement. I think the situation on the ground is intolerable. What we’re seeing at the moment, the ban on civil liberties, the massive imprisonment of political activists, youngsters and journalists, obviously. This is all adding up to the discontent inside the country.
LYNCH: The discontent, and the continuing protests, carry big risks for Ahmadinejad as he tries to consolidate his hold on the president’s office. He has staked much of his domestic support on his promises to redistribute Iran’s wealth. But the government has been distracted by dissent, forced to spend money and time squelching protests, suppressing the flow of information and mounting a series of show trials. With the potential of more trouble to come, Ahmadinejad may want to continue to shake his fist at the world when he comes to New York next week. Some world leaders though may have a rude reply of their own, reminding him that there are many thousands inside his own country clenching their fists in defiance of him and his government. For The World, I’m Laura Lynch.
Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.
Discussion
No comments for “Competing rallies in Tehran”