Posted on 04/15/2005 4:33:12 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
More than 250 people were arrested Friday in southwestern Iran after demonstrations against an alleged plan to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the area became violent, a political activist said.
Mohammad Navaseri said Arab residents of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, gathered Friday morning, chanting slogans against alleged government plans to move more non-Arabs in the city.
He said they set fire to banks and police stations in Ahvaz before more than 250 of them were arrested.
Another Ahvaz resident, Yousef Nabitaraf, said protesters smashed the windows of several banks and set at least one police station on fire.
A copy of a letter allegedly signed by former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi outlines a plan for changing the population composition in Ahvaz through relocating non-Arabs to the city to make them the majority population.
The letter was widely circulated in Ahvaz and other cities in Khuzestan, an oil-rich province that borders Iraq and is home to a large Arab population.
Arabs make up about 3 percent of Iran's population; Persians account for 51 percent of the population of 69 million.
Abtahi has denied writing such a letter, saying it was "illogical."
"Anyone reading it learns that a decision like that, even if approved by the Supreme Leader or the Supreme National Security Council or the president, can't be implemented in Iran. How could the office of the president issue such an illogical directive and change the population in the vital and important region like Khuzestan?" Abtahi asked.
"I've never had such a power to issue a directive to change the population," Abtahi wrote.
Government officials were not available for comment.
Journalists in Ahvaz also confirmed that demonstrations had turned violent.
"Demonstrations in several districts in Ahvaz turned violent when police tried to disperse the angry crowd," said Hadi Yunesi, editor of Fajr-e-Khuzestan daily, which is based in Ahvaz.
Activist Navaseri said protests in the mainly Arab districts of Dayereh, Khashayar and Kian continued late into the night and authorities responded by cutting off water and power.
"These districts have been encircled by security forces and no one can get into or leave them," he said.
are arabs ever happy anywhere and with anything ?
How any Arab in the world can call Israel a racist, apartheid state is beyond me. They have got to be some of biggest bigots of all time; no one who is not Arab is allowed to live among them with heavy duty grief.
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AMERICANS ON A BRIDGE IN FALLUJA BY ISLAMIC SUBHUMANS
these @sses are worse than primitive headhunters on Borneo
Have the Islamofascist EVER had a nonviolent demostration?!
Oops - I mean, without heavy duty grief.
That Fallujah picture is heartbreaking. I can't look at it.
What town in SW Iowa? I'm from there and unless alot has changed you still have the best American values of what this country used to be. WTF????
Government by decree.
Decrees by the whim of barbarians.
Iran will topple itself without much help from outside.
Assuming a once proud people has anything left at all after decades of fascism.
May they be protected and strong as they stand up. They need to be heard by the world.
I am not sure I would be too much against this none existing directive. Though I consider mullahs Arab wannabe Persians myself based on their approach and disrespect for Persian life. Where they moving Arabs out or bringing Persians in? I am confused based on some comments here!!!
An airstrike on that bridge would have been okay with me, don´t give a crap if they are kids.
Did you notice how all the dancing in the street when Americans were killed stopped after Fallujah?
What I referred to is the rule of mullahs, more fascist that religious, over the common man.
I'd agree that it would benefit Iran to restore the Persian influence and I expect that was partly the basis for this decree.
It's the decree itself and the source of that decree that seems an insult to human dignity.
Agreed 100%. Even with your 1st comment. Considering most Persians just want their lifes essence back but are run down by this Arab ideology, I am curious and surprised how Arabs stood against mullahs. They are one of the mullahs supporting communities. This article has confusion written all over it. I hope a once proud people of Iran have something left after decades of fascism.
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