Although Mehdi Karobi has announced that a gathering in support of Etemad Melli will not be held in front of the paper’s building on Monday, August 17, Karimkhan Zand Street, where the building is located, was filled with security forces dressed in uniforms who arrogantly resorted to using verbal abuse and assault to discourage any gathering.
According to eyewitnesses, at around 6:00 PM security guards stationed themselves should-to-shoulder around the paper’s building, and a short distance away, on Kheradmand Street, another group of plainclothes agents, apparently belonging to a governmental organization such as the judiciary or Sepah (guardians of Islamic Revolution), were also stationed. The faces of these units are usually covered with green masks; the guards appeared muscular, and it was evident that these guards had been selectively chosen.
The eyewitnesses also reported that a group of people who began marching from Karimkhan Zand Street toward Valiasr Street, at the intersection of Hafez Street, formed a spontaneous gathering and chanted Allah-O-Akbar (God is great). Participation by young people, who had not attempted to cover their faces, was a notable factor visible in the gathering. Other sources have reported that security guards resorted to using tear gas in an effort to disperse the crowd gathered in Karimkhan Zand Street.
Radio Farda in an article on its website reported that the confrontation between security guards and protestors in the center of Tehran led to the arrest of a number of protestors.
Reports indicated that baton-wielding security guards attacked the protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, and at least two young protestors were assaulted by the guards.
