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More than 5,000 residents of Massoudieh township, southeast Tehran, clashed with municipal agents and State Security Forces on July 5 and 6, in a bid to prevent the demolition of their homes. Chanting "death to Khamenei, death to Khatami and down with dictatorship," the people protested the attack by the regime's agents.
According to information from within the clerical regime, in a July 1 meeting at the office of Tehran's Governor, Mohammad Reza Ayatollahi, top-ranking officials, including the Director General of Tehran's Intelligence Department, ordered the demolition of homes built recently by the impoverished residents of this township.
City agents backed by the State Security Forces were sent to destroy 30 homes at 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, but faced stiff resistance by the home owners. The next day, neighbors rushed to the aid of the home owners and the gathering quickly turned into a 5,000-strong demonstration.
Residents attacked the District 6 municipal building in Massoudieh and destroyed all municipal kiosks. They then poured into the street and attacked the Tejarat and Saderat banks with stones and bricks, heavily damaging them.
To confront the angry crowd, reinforcements, including a special Guard Corps unit commanded by Colonel Sarparast, were sent to beef up the State Security Forces on the scene. Clashes were so intense that Brigadier General Lotfian went to Massoudieh to direct the effort to put down the protest. But clashes continued until midnight.
The enraged crowd destroyed three buses of the Guards Corps' special units and 14 other government vehicles. They also turned a vehicle of the State Security Forces upside down to block a street in the neighborhood.
At least five Guards and security agents as well as 11 residents were wounded. The Intelligence Ministry has arrested 18 protesters, about whom there is no information available.
This morning, Revolutionary Guards were stationed at intersections and main streets to suppress any protests and prevent the people from bringing in bricks and other materials to rebuild their demolished houses.
The uprising was so intense
that the state-controlled media, including Kayhan and IRNA, the official
news agency, were obliged to run a distorted report, describing the protest
as a "small riot."
Sit-In by 2,000 Tehran University Students Enters 6th Day, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 8
Reports from Iran indicate that more than 2,000 Tehran University students continue their sit-in, begun Thursday, July 2, at their dormitory in North Amirabad street in the capital.
Protesting the regime's repressive policies and the appalling living conditions, the students are calling for the dissolution of the University's student affairs council, which is dominated by university officials. They are demanding that an independent council be formed by students, and that Tehran University's government-appointed chancellor be replaced.
On Monday, July 6, striking
students who refused to enter the campus dining hall were attacked and
beaten by State Security forces and Intelligence Ministry agents. The Intelligence
Ministry has arrested at least five students.
Revolutionary Guards Commander: Enemy Alienating Youth, IRNA, July 8
Kerman -- The commander of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps, Brigadier General Rahim Safavi, said Tuesday that "the enemies wish to see Iran engulfed in insecurity and tension."
Speaking to IRGC personnel
in this southeastern province, Safavi cautioned that "the enemies are intent
on misleading the youth and alienating them from their Islamic
[i.e. mullahs'] culture."
Clashes with Regime's Forces in Orumieh, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 8
Toward the end of last week, around 1,000 people living in the impoverished Hajifilo region and surrounding areas in the city of Orumieh, capital of the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, clashed with State Security forces and agents of the para-military Bassij from the city's seventh district.
The clashes broke out at 9 p.m., when the Security forces tried to disperse a crowd protesting against the mullahs' repressive polices. Five teenagers were arrested and one Security agent severely injured. The State Security forces fled the scene several hours later, in fear of the ever growing crowd.