Protesters Gather Again, as Iran Panel Offers Talks
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html
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TEHRAN — Hundreds of thousands of black-clad protesters massed quietly in central Tehran on Thursday for another day of protest over last week’s disputed presidential election, even as the Iranian government made its first move toward some form of dialogue to defuse the outrage.
The move came in the form of an invitation from the country’s powerful Guardian Council to the three losing candidates to meet to discuss their grievances.
The exact motives, timing and conditions of the proposed meeting, reported by state media, remained unclear. The offer, from a legal panel largely controlled by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was widely seen as a government effort to buy time in the hopes of dampening the momentum of days of enormous protests taking place in open defiance of the government’s authority.
The government also seemed to be building a case that challenges to the election represented a threat to national security, with the Intelligence Ministry describing an election-day bomb plot linked to foreign enemies, Reuters reported.
Beginning at about 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, thousands of people began gathering Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square. The crowd quickly grew to the hundreds of thousands, stretching beyond the borders of the square — one of the cities largest — and filling the surrounding streets, witnesses said. The protest seemed even larger that Monday’s, which Tehran’s mayor said numbered three million.
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The move came in the form of an invitation from the country’s powerful Guardian Council to the three losing candidates to meet to discuss their grievances.
The exact motives, timing and conditions of the proposed meeting, reported by state media, remained unclear. The offer, from a legal panel largely controlled by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was widely seen as a government effort to buy time in the hopes of dampening the momentum of days of enormous protests taking place in open defiance of the government’s authority.
The government also seemed to be building a case that challenges to the election represented a threat to national security, with the Intelligence Ministry describing an election-day bomb plot linked to foreign enemies, Reuters reported.
Beginning at about 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, thousands of people began gathering Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square. The crowd quickly grew to the hundreds of thousands, stretching beyond the borders of the square — one of the cities largest — and filling the surrounding streets, witnesses said. The protest seemed even larger that Monday’s, which Tehran’s mayor said numbered three million.
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jh64487
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scare tactics aren't going to work Iran, the people will have their say.
even from abroad with limited info we could tell that something was wrong
538.com
- 2 years ago
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jh64487
