Local soccer game leads to protest and clashes

SMCCDI:

The "Esteghlal-Bargh e Shiraz" soccer game which was played, yesterday, at Tehran's Azadi ('Freedom') Stadium resulted in sporadic clashes and the brutal intervention of security forces against demonstrators.

Hundreds of soccer fans started to shout slogans against the Islamic regime and the persistent human rights abuses in Iran. READ MORE

Slogans, such as, "Zendani e Siassi; Azad bayad guardad" (Political prisoners; Must be free), "Marg; Bar Estebdad" (Down; With Dictatorship) and "Marg bar Taleban; Tche Kabol, tche Tehran" (Down with Taliban; in Kabul and in Tehran) were shouted by hundreds of fans.

The popular exasperation was shown in an unprecedented manner. The first parts of the slogans were shouted by fans sited in one side of the stadium and the second part by fans sited on the other side of the huge complex.

Special forces were sent among the spectators in order to beat and arrest dozens of protesters.

More clashes took place at the end of the game in stadium's parking lots by resulting in damages made to several buses and more arrests.

Exasperated Iranians are usually seizing opportunities offered by soccer games or big events to protest and express their rejection of the Islamic regime. Iran was the
scene of consecutive and massive protests, during the 2002 World Cup soccer qualification games but the trend was stopped by bloody repressive measures, and the believed forced loss of Iran to Bahrain. In Esafahan alone several protesters were killed by the security apparatus and the regime had to transfer the notorious Esfahan Governor. Known for having ordered the bloody repression, he, the governor, was transferred to his present post as the Islamic regime's Ambassador to Kuwait.

Since then, important soccer games are often turned into popular protests, especially when they're played in Tehran. The "Iran-Japan" game of March 25th resulted in several deaths and hundreds of injured or arrested.

SMCCDI is known for its key role in the promotion of Football (Soccer) Protests and especially in the coordination of last World Cup Soccer qualification games' riots. It constantly mobilized the masses via the intense use of digital technology, such as the Internet and satellite TV, as well as, help from some friendly Persian speaking radio stations abroad who were offering airtime for consecutive interviews and transmitting the Movement's calls:
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