Thousands of Iranian protesters yesterday attempted to stage scattered demonstrations in Tehran said to be in support of Arab revolts as scores of policemen moved to disperse them, witnesses said.
A witness said crowds of protesters were seen at Tehran’s key areas such as Haft-e Tir Square, Karim Khan Avenue, Ferdowsi Square and Hafez Street, while another said similar crowds were walking from Imam Hussein Square to Enghelab Square.
“They are being silent and trying to keep a low profile,” a witness said about demonstrators walking from Imam Hussein Square to Enghelab.
Another witness said about 1,000 policemen were deployed at Haft-e Tir Square, Karim Khan Avenue, Ferdowsi Square and Hafez.
“Some policemen are chasing the protesters away in order to disperse them,” he said.
However, protesters and security forces clashed in a main Tehran square, al-Arabiya television reported in an on-screen news bulletin without giving further details. About 1,000 anti-riot policemen were also deployed in and around Imam Hussein Square, a witness said.
Witnesses said anti-riot police on motorbikes armed with riot shotguns, tear gas, batons, paintball guns and fire extinguishers were deployed in parts of the -capital to prevent gatherings, which could turn into anti-government demonstrations.
Iran yesterday blocked access to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi’s house to prevent him from attending a rally in support of Arab revolts.
Police blocked access to the house of Mousavi, who along with fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi had sought to hold a rally yesterday to express solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
“Security forces have sent police vans and vehicles to the alley where the house of Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard is located” in Tehran, Mousavi’s Web site Kaleme.com reported.
“From today, the police have blocked the alley where their house is located ... There is no possibility of coming and going” to the house, it said.
The report said all telephone lines at the house, including the mobile phone connections of Mousavi and his wife, have been severed.
Kaleme.com said the latest “illegal and restrictive measures and pressures were adopted to prevent Mousavi from taking part in a rally in support of the people of Tunisia and Egypt.”
Iran has backed the Arab uprisings, but the Iranian interior ministry refused to permit the opposition rally as officials believe it is a ploy to stage fresh anti--government -demonstrations as seen in 2009 after the disputed re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Despite the ministry’s refusal, several groups claiming to be linked to the opposition movement have said they would stage a rally later yesterday to support Arab uprisings.
Karroubi himself has been under de facto house arrest for almost a week with his family and relatives barred from visiting him.
The cleric’s Web site, Sahamnews.org, said yesterday that Karroubi’s wife, Fatemeh, was barred also from leaving the house.
The two leaders and their supporters remain steadfast in rejecting Ahmadinejad’s presidency, saying the hardliner was re-elected because of massive vote rigging.
Their protests in the immediate aftermath of the election brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets of Tehran and other cities, shaking the pillars of the regime and dividing the nation’s elite clergy.
Iranian officials, including commanders from the elite Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, have warned the opposition against staging the rally.
Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naghdi on Sunday said Western spies wanted to ignite a revolt in Iran similar to those that raged in Tunisia and Egypt and that they were searching for “a mentally challenged person who could set himself on fire.”
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)