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TEHRAN - Iranian workers protesting against the country's labor laws clashed with police in Tehran on Saturday and some were arrested, witnesses said.
Clashes broke out when about a thousand workers marched along one of the city's main thoroughfares toward parliament chanting anti-government slogans. It was not immediately clear how many were arrested.
Authorities had earlier said they would refuse to allow workers to use the May 1 Labor Day festivities to press for better living standards.
[According to a statement by the National council of Resistance of Iran, The clerical regime had dispatched 800 anti-riot guards to the area to prevent the workers' rally. The guards attacked the demonstrators near Hassan-abad square, but faced the workers' resistance and reaction. During the march, workers chanted slogans against the regime's leaders.
The NCR statement reported: "In addition to Tehran, other cities across the country were the scenes of demonstrations and clashes between workers and the regime's suppressive forces."
"In a message on May Day, NCR President
Massoud Rajavi had called on Iranian workers to step up their protests
and strikes," the statement added.]
Iran's Press Warns Mohajerani Not to Stray, Agence France Presse, May 2
TEHRAN - Iran's conservative press fired off a stern warning to Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani on Sunday after he narrowly beat off a parliamentary censure motion by hardliners.
"The minister's vote of confidence does not mean that the ministry's handling of cultural issues has been proper," said Abrar newspaper, adding that the censure motion was called because of the "dissatisfaction of devout members of parliament with the turbulent cultural situation."
Abrar called on the minister, a close ally of Khatami, to embark on a "major spring-cleaning at the ministry to purge it of ... foreign elements.
"Mohajerani must try now to lead the
ministry back on the right path in order to ease the troubled minds of
our MPs," it said.
Tehran's Mayor Reports To Prison May 6, Reuter, May 1
TEHRAN - The mayor of Tehran, who was suspended from office following an embezzlement conviction, could begin his two-year prison sentence next week, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a leading Iranian reformist, received a court order to turn himself over to the Tehran judiciary on May 6 as part of the procedure for beginning jail terms, his lawyer told the official IRNA news agency.
The mayor was convicted of misusing public funds in a case his supporters say was set up by the conservative judiciary to remove a powerful reformer from the political scene, a charge judiciary officials deny.
His imprisonment will be a blow to
Khatami's embattled reformist government which had strongly backed Karbaschi
against the charges.
Iran Security Chief To Stand Trial On Monday, Reuter, May 2
TEHRAN - Iran's security police chief is to stand trial on Monday in connection with the torture of several Tehran city government officials during their detention on graft charges, newspapers reported on Sunday.
Brigadier-General Gholamreza Naqdi, commander of the intelligence and security division of the police, will face a hearing at a military court in Tehran.
Salam, a daily close to Khatami, said the general will stand trial along with three co-defendants on charges which include illegal detention of suspects in solitary confinement, ordering the use of torture and slander.
More than 25 district mayors and other
senior officials at the Tehran municipality have complained to Khatami
of being tortured at the hands of the security police during their detention
last year on graft charges.
Palestinians Ask Mullahs Stop Opposing Peace, United Press International, May 2
GAZA - Palestinian Authority officials are calling on Iran and Syria to recognize the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian radio reports.
Tayeb Abdel Rahim, secretary-general of the Palestinian presidency, said at a meeting in the West Bank town of Jericho that he is calling on Khatami to start "a healthy and right relationship with the Palestinian Authority and the PLO."
The authority has accused both Tehran and Damascus of supporting Palestinian Islamic fundamentalists who oppose peace agreements signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1994.