Pejmanesque, of course, has been covering the 18 Tir demonstrations: as always, reports are vague, but it looks like the theocrats there have maintained control.
What a bloodless phrase ‘maintained control’ is. As the official Voice of America statement notes
This month brings the fifth anniversary of the July 9th, 1999, student uprising in Iran. That uprising began with a demonstration in Tehran after the closing of a reformist newspaper. Student demonstrators were beaten and arrested, and several were killed by Iranian security forces. Days of protests followed, involving thousands of Iranians across the country. The protests were brutally suppressed by the Iranian government.
Since 1999, June and July have been tense months in Iran, as students and others have tried to mark the anniversary of the uprising, and the government has attempted to stifle them. In June 2003, four-thousand people were arrested, and the government banned any commemoration of the 1999 uprising. Iranian authorities announced a similar ban this year.
Despite such efforts at repression, the Iranian people continue to demand their freedom from Islamic fundamentalist rule. “The rule of free peoples will come to the Middle East,” says President Bush. And Americans “will do all in our power to help them find the blessings of liberty.”
I’m sure that we all are agreed in the hope that those blessings come someday soon.
(latter also via Pejmanesque – and I agree: Robert Tagorda’s own piece is well worth reading)
Moe