Friday's riots and the mainstream media

The Iran Press Service picks up where the mainstream media left off in their reports of Friday's riots in Iran which resulted in at least six deaths:

“The stampede started after riot police fired in the air, trying to disperse the happy and enthusiastic people who had just got out the stadium from principal entry gates and joined the group outside, singing national song, dancing and shouting”, one source reported. ...

Iranian wire agencies said angry mobs attacked public buildings and damaged more than 90 buses of the Tehran public transport that put the damages at “more than thousands” of US Dollars.

“There were debris and broken glasses all over the streets and even the highway leading to Karaj, a medium size town 40 kilometres west of the capital”, eyewitnesses told foreign-based Iranian radio and television stations, speaking on mobile phones from the scene.

Damage of the riots was so extensive:

the official Iranian news agency said it took municipal sweepers almost a full 24 hours to clean up the streets from broken glasses and stones that were used by demonstrators to smash windows of the buses but also administrative buildings and banks.

The report observes:

“This is a very bad news for the Iranian authorities, particularly the leadership that, with unabated propaganda, tries to encourage people to take part into the next presidential elections in order to prove the world that the regime is popular and stable”, one Iranian analyst said on condition of anonymity.