Al Riyadh, Apr. 6 - Hundreds were killed or wounded and more than 600 arrested during the uprising by more than 50,000 residents of Soltan-Abad, Akbar-Abad, Islam-Shahr, Saleh-Abad and Robat Karim (southwest Tehran), according to a statement iss ued today by the National Council of Resistance in Paris. In Soltan-Abad and Akbar-Abad townships alone, at least 50 dead have been counted so far.

This uprising began at 7:00 am yesterday in protest to the appalling economic conditions in those areas, spiraling prices, especially fuel costs, and due to the residents' enormous discontent and disdain toward Khomeini's heirs.

The citizenry attacked the city's main police headquarters, disarmed the Pasdaran and marched toward Islam-Shahr. On the way, they set on fire several petrol stations, including those in Salour and Mahdieh districts, the Bassij resistance headquarters in Saleh-Abad, six branches of Saderat, Melli and Tejarat banks in Islam-Shahr and Akbar-Abad, Saleh-Abad municipality, the Melli shoe factory building, the offices of the Islamic Propaganda Organization, the local office of the Communication's Department and a large number of government buses and automobiles.

The demonstrators also damaged the local offices of the Guidance Ministry in Islam Shahr and gathering centers of the Bassij forces in Saleh-Abad, and totally destroyed the 1st and 2nd district municipalities in Robat Karim. They also occupied the Ador an police headquarters in the area and seized all the weaponry.

To prevent the spread of the protest, the mullahs dispatched the Guards Corps' so-called tenth Seyyed ol-Shohada division, which took part in suppressing the 200,000-strong uprising in Qazvin last August 4, Tehran's state security forces, the Guards Co rps' special anti-riot battalions and the Bassij resistance's Ashura battalions to the scene of the clashes. Besides using heavy machine-guns to confront the angry crowd which was chanting "death to Khamenei," "death to Rafsanjani," the Guards corps utilized helicopter gunships to fire on the crowd. The bodies of many of those killed remained on the streets due to the severity of the clashes. A number of other bodies were transferred to nearby police precincts.

Until midnight Tuesday, the situation in Soltan-Abad, Akbar-Abad, Islam-Shahr and Saleh-Abad were reported to be extremely tense. The mullahs have dispatched several thousand Guards and declared martial law in these regions. Armed Pasdaran are statione d in key areas and main thoroughfares and patrol units and agents from the Intelligence Ministry go to the homes of residents to arrest the youth.

Solidarity call

NCR Secretariat, Apr. 4 - NCR President Massoud Rajavi hailed the uprising by south Tehran residents and paid homage to the martyrs of the protest in Tehran. He called on Iranians throughout the country to rise in solidarity with south Tehran demonstra tors. Stressing that today's developments in Tehran reflect the Khomeini regime's total illegitimacy, Mr. Rajavi called on the U.N. Security Council to adopt effective measures, particularly an arms, oil and technological embargo, against this regime.

Washington Times, Apr. 5 - The People's Mojahedin of Iran, an Iranian opposition group based in Paris, said that "several hundred" demonstrators had been killed or wounded in the disturbances in south Tehran. A Revolutionary Guards post was ransacked by the demonstrators, according to a spokesman for the People's Mojahedin in Washington. Gobadi also said protesters had demolished at least two municipal offices, along with scores of cars and other vehicles.

UPI, Apr. 4 - A statement by the exiled Mojahedin Khalq Organization said nine people were killed when Islamic revolutionary guards exchanged fire with the demonstrators. "Chanting anti-government slogans, the demonstrators attacked banks and petrol stations and set several of them on fire," the statement said.

AP, Apr. 4 - The Iraq-based Mujahedeen Khalq estimated hundreds killed and wounded by armed helicopters and security forces in "large-scale slaughter of south Tehran residents." The Mujahedeen said the protest was over deteriorating economic conditions and the rise in the prices of public transportation. It said protesters earlier surrounded the main police station, disarmed the security forces and confiscated weaponry.

EP condemns south Tehran carnage

NCR Secretariat, Apr. 6 - In a strongly worded resolution, a copy of which was forwarded to the NCR, the European Parliament condemned the bloody suppression of the uprising by south Tehran residents.

Adopted unanimously, the resolution expresses grave concern over the approval by the mullahs' Majlis of "a law allowing the 'forces of law and order'... to open fire at will against demonstrators, 'as happened in Teheran on 4 April 1995, killing and in juring several people.'" The resolution also states shock at the regime's "assassination of its opponents abroad," including "numerous members of the NCR."

In this resolution, the EP condemns the regime for "massive human rights violations which continue to take place in Iran, in particular the cases of execution without trial, torture, persecution and assassination of its opponents abroad and the repress ion of women and ethnic and religious minorities."

Referring to the execution of "more than 100,000 people for political reasons," and extensive "discrimination against women," the resolution emphasizes that "Member States must make their relations with Iran conditional upon Iran respecting human right s..., the disbanding of intelligence service special forces..., and a clear denunciation of terrorism..."

Protests

Voice of Mojahed, Apr. 6 - Following a 100% increase in the price of gasoline in Tabriz, a group of drivers staged a protest in front of the city's main terminal and chanted slogans against the regime. State security forces moved in quickly to suppress the protesters. In Najaf-Abad, in Isfahan province, local transport fares have risen by 30 to 50%. Bus fares have increased by 20 to 30%.

Drivers in the western city of Ilam staged a protest in reaction to the doubling of fuel prices.

Suppression

Tehran radio, Apr. 9 - Brigadier Reza Seifollahi, commander of the State Security Forces said that the Islamic Republic needs a strong military force to maintain security and calm throughout the country. He said while Khomeini was alive, he always stre ssed that the security forces must maintain control and establish law and order.

High prices

Voice of Mojahed, Apr. 12 - A 28-inch television set is sold at $490 in the open market. The government price for the same set is $515. A 12 cubic feet refrigerator is sold at $230. A two-door version is priced at $375. A color television is sold at $3 00. A kilo of meat was priced at $2.50. All these prices are above the prices in the open market.

Jomhouri Islami, Apr. 10 - Following the ratification of the Majlis and the Economic Council, the rate of local and inner-city post increased by 25%.

Ettela'at, Apr. 9 - Precisely at the time when the government announced the campaign against high prices, the prices of pasteurized milk, yogurt and whip cream went up. When government-controlled factories disregard the campaign against price hi kes, what does one expect from private stores and supermarkets.

Voice of Mojahed, Apr. 9 - Prices of nine essential commodities and food stuffs continue to rise. In the past three weeks the cost of meet, grains and tea have risen between six and 12 percent. There is also a serious shortage of vegetable oil, butter, sugar and tea.

Salam, Apr. 8 - In (the Iranian year 1373) we were told that the doubling of fuel prices will not cause other price hikes. The Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone raised the cost of international calls by 30%, postage by 20%. Bus tickets a nd tea rose by 100%.

Tehran radio, Apr. 8 - The Director General of the Power Ministry announced that on the basis of the second five-year-plan, the price for industrial electric power will go up by 20%.

Falling rial

Voice of Mojahed, Apr. 10 - The Iranian currency fell from 4,000 to 4,370 rials to a dollar. Rial has lost 60% of its value in the past three months.

FEATURE

In Iran... Revolution against Revolution, Al-Riyadh, editorial, April 6, 1995;

Excerpts:

Without any hopes of suppressing the revolution, the Iranian army poured out onto the streets. The people in Tehran and other cities reacted by baring their chests and opening the doors to their homes in February 1979 to host the soldiers and the offic ers thereby blocking the path for the remnants of the shah. The plan succeeded. But subsequent purges that included the head of the provisional government, army commanders and members of the cabinet as well as some supporters of the regime which enjoyed p opular support led to disillusionment among the enlightened and intellectual sectors of the society. They realized that the former regime which alienated the lower sectors of the society because of its ideas about changing into western ways has been trans formed into a regime that is not any less isolated from its predecessors in its thinking and behavior.

The years of revolutionary fervor which led the leftists in the Arab and the Islamic world to try to find a foot hold in this revolution, prompting them to promote it as a unique example, combining within itself the spiritual and international features of Islam. This tendency arose from the disillusionment which emanated from the collapse of the universal communist utopia and its future...

Now the revolution has turned against itself. The Iranian people reject the ruling apparatus. Compared with the shah's regime, uglier examples of positions and conduct of the religious organization have appeared. In this way, the rise in popular anger is discovering elements of a treachery with which it has lived for the past 17 years, a regime which had offered divine interpretations for social policy and modus operandi, controlling the people by suffocating them under the pretext of confronting enemi es that only exist in the dreams of ruling religious system. These conditions have led to the recent clashes over bread, fuel prices, water and medicine, to the extent that the "Karbala Division" organized from popular forces ... is now suppressing the p oor and the destitute who were themselves the supporters and the engine of the revolution.

What have the Iranian people gained from two decades of the mullahs' rule? Without any scruples, this regime has brought nothing but enmity toward its neighbors, international pressures and the retardation of progress, foreign investment and population growth. This means that the implications of the this regime's conduct will further push Iran toward greater debts and pain and suffering that are equivalent to the life of the revolution, a revolution which broke the back of the Iranian people. Iran's regime is n ow spending its resources abroad and continues to believe that it will soon set up a superpower the focal point of which will be Iran, with its philosophers, orators, mullahs and the armed forces. But there are limits to day dreaming. Reality and claims are two different things. Iran's rulers continue to believe in their illusions and dreams. This is the greatest danger the leaders can envision for their people.

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