Meetings of Iran's Presidential runner disrupted

Iran Mania:

Iran's Presidential runner, Mehdi Karroubi, was forced to cut short his speech at a mosque in Zanjan when around 100 people started to chant slogans against him and forced the meeting to end in an uproar, ISNA reported.

A report by Karroubi’s Election Campaign Headquarters on Sunday said that in a coordinated move participants sitting in the front rows started to shout “It’s a lie“ when Karroubi repeated his pledge to pay a certain amount of money to people above the age of 18 upon assuming the presidency. READ MORE

Protesters then tried to reach Karroubi, but were stopped by other participants who chanted slogans in favor of the former parliamentary speaker and led him out of the building.

A top aide said these protesters belong to the same groups that have a history of disrupting public meetings.

“The latest incident shows that competition has entered a vital phase and rivals are upset by the fact that reformists like Karroubi are popular with the people and have a high chance of winning the election,“ he said.

IRNA also reported a similar incident on Sunday that concerned another reformist presidential candidate. Two groups of students at Amir Kabir Industrial University engaged in verbal and physical clashes over Mostafa Moin’s comments about issues such as the authority of the Guardians Council. Clashes continued long after Moin left the meeting.