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Michael Ledeen reports:
ISFAHAN — Iranian authorities beat up and tear gassed exuberant young revellers as they breathed new life into a pre-Islamic fire festival with a night of dancing, flirting and fireworks.
...there is a big Zoroastrian revival under way in Iran, another sign of the hollowness of the Islamic republic, and the hostility of the Iranian people to their leaders. And to say that the authorities “beat up and gassed” some “revelers” is quite an understatement, since, on the evening of March 15h, there were very large-scale demonstrations all over Iran, combining the Norooz celebrations with calls for the downfall of the regime itself. Effigies of top mullahs were burned in the streets.
...according to Iranians with whom I have spoken, there were monster demonstrations in eleven provinces and 37 cities, and many thousands — one source said more than 30,000 — people were arrested, some only briefly, others shipped off to the infamous prisons and torture chambers of the regime.
And Regime Change Iran reports:
Of course [Reuters] played down the size of the demonstrations (eye witness reports put the number in the millions, based on conservative estimates that 1/3 of most neighborshoods participated) and the anti regime slogans and acts committed by the Iranian people.
Ledeen has much more, including info on how Reuters misreported the event. (Is “misreported” a word? If not, perhaps it should be.)
