Unrest in Iran After Election
June 14th, 2009Via: The Age:
A SEVERE crackdown on Iran’s emerging reform movement began on the weekend after incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scored a resounding win in Friday’s presidential elections.
At least 10 leaders of two reformist groups who had backed opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi were under arrest last night as police used tear gas and clubs to quell mass street protests.
Speaking on national television, Mr Ahmadinejad praised the Iranian people for choosing to look towards the future.
“This is a great victory at a time and condition when the whole material, political and propaganda facilities outside of Iran and sometimes … inside Iran, were mobilised against our people,” he said.
The mood in the capital, Tehran, was tense as large groups of riot police patrolled the streets, moving along drivers who had been honking their horns in apparent protest.
The official IRNA news agency reported that two of the reformist leaders arrested were involved in orchestrating the weekend riots.
Amid charges of electoral fraud and vote rigging, official results showed Mr Ahmadinejad won 63 per cent of the nearly 40 million votes cast, with overwhelming backing from Iran’s vast rural constituencies, compared to 34 per cent won by Mr Mousavi.
The election result is certain to heighten tensions across the region and could hamper US President Barack Obama’s attempts to build dialogue with Iran.
