Shahrzad News special correspondent in Tehran visits the scenes of public protests against Ahmadinejad’s claim of victory in Iran’s presidential elections and talks to people who took part in it.
Sharzad News: Iran’s tenth presidential elections were held on last Friday and as the day came to a close it also ended days and nights of unforgettable period for the Iranian people during which they appeared on the country’s streets with a smile on their faces. Their happiness reflected their hopes of change in their lives and future, which had broken the rule of the police state for at least a week, only to see that their smiles would end on Saturday.
On that day it was all anxiety and shock that set in among the people when the anti riot police and security forces backed by the Baseej vigilantes and plain clothes police grouped up against them to beat them and turn the capital into a ‘city of blood’ as they began to protest against the announcement that Ahmadinejad has won the elections with 24 million votes. Soon the city covered in green only hours ago turned into a red zone.
Maryam, 29, is a student. She is crying on the pavement of Fatemi Street where the Iranian Interior Ministry building is under siege by the protesting people who are being beaten up by the police. She is a supporter of Mirhossein Mussavi and has voted for him. She is certain that a massive fraud has taken place in the electoral process.
She says: ‘We were up all night listening to the news from the Ministry of Interior when they were repeatedly and unashamedly announcing that Ahmadinejad has won the elections with a majority vote. On the Internet I was looking at the websites of Fars News Agency and Islamic Republic News Agency that were publishing the news of Ahmadinejad’s victory even before the votes had been counted. I was going mad. I have been crying all night. And now on the streets Ahmadinejad is celebrating his victory by beating us and spilling people’s blood”.
The SMS texting services have all been completely suspended since Friday and mobile phones are out of use. This was a trick to stop the sporadic bursts of people’s anger to come together in a unified manner as they were demonstrating across the town. Their slogans had turned quite radical than those shouted in previous rallies. Now every one was chanting “Death to Dictator” and “Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will never be a Chile”.
Ali is a 35 year old journalist and describes his mood as follows:
“I was following the voting process until early hours of Saturday morning. I had personally visited more than 30 polling stations and talked directly to the people in the queues. I could not believe the outcome of the vote counting. I was telling myself that surely they are rigging the votes from a centre as it was going up in a staged manner. When I woke up I was just hoping that what I heard last night was just a bad dream. I could not move out of my bed for an hour as I had lost all my motives to even get up. When I stepped out of my home I came across a sad people who later had to face the brutality of the police. I have never cried this much in my life. When I remember my conversations with those hopeful people standing in the queues to vote I ask myself ‘where do we fit in the minds of those who have done this to us’?”
News travels fast here despite all the restrictions in telephone and Internet connections. The news of the arrest of the leadership of Iran’s Participation Front and Mujahedin of Islamic Revolution Organisation as well as the house arrest of Mirhossein Mussavi and Mehdi Karoubi spreads while no one has confirmed them. Demonstrators are shouting “Give us back our votes Mussavi” and people are whispering the word coup d’ etat in each other’s ears.
Azadeh is a Karoubi supporter. Before she was among those who supported a boycott of the elections. She has now been attacked twice in a day by the anti riot police and while bleeding and with a swollen face she says:
“ This result has humiliated all of us. They cooked the figures and rigged the votes in a way to belittle Karoubi more than anyone else. This way they sent a message to his supporters who include students, women rights activists and national and religious minorities. In reality Karoubi came up as the fifth in these elections as the number of blank votes were more than the number of votes cast for him. If the reformist leaders do not lead the people’s mass protests at this juncture they would betray all of us. At the same time if people become hopeless and give up no one can ever motivate them again”.
Mehdi owns a local supermarket. He is serving his customers with little appetite to answer their questions. He is in a state of shock as a result of his country’s presidential elections.
He has taken part in the contest for the first time in his life and had even managed to convince members of his family to follow him. Now he says he thinks things will get even worse than before. He says you cannot silence people with force and violence. He says he regrets having taken part in the elections and people now have more worries on their minds.
“I can sense this from the way they are shopping. They are buying rice, oil and cereals ten times over their real needs as though they are hoarding them for the days ahead”, says Mehdi.
“The honking of cars does not sound happy any more. The town is not coloured in green. Until yesterday if you looked at the face of any passers by they would greet you with a smile of friendship. Today they do not even look at you. Our sad people are still waiting...”
