Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Police Clash with Protesters in Tehran Over Currency Plunge

Tehran Grand Bazaar Closed
Iranian police clashed today with demonstrators in Tehran and fired tear gas to disperse them. The demonstrators were angered by the plunge in the value of the Iranian rial. They shouted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his economic policies. The rial has lost nearly 30 percent of its value since its downward spiral started last week.

The Tehran Grand Bazaar, the heartbeat of the city's economy, also closed today in protest against the instability of the rial and the inability of the merchants and shopkeepers to quote accurate prices when the national currency loses value on continuous basis. The closure of bazaar in response to political and economic developments is a rare and  significant event in Iran. The bazaar is expected to reopen on Thursday.

To see videos of today's protests in Tehran, please click here.

Photo credit: NAJA riot police at the scene of street protests in Tehran. 3 October 2012. (AFP)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Video of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDFjyg1KXpw

Anonymous said...

Another video. Massive anti-regime rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61FPAW6HBbA

Anonymous said...

not anti regime,
its like in Spain and Greece its the economy stupid !

such dreamers LMAO .

Anonymous said...

another one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBXp5sMFr_4

Anonymous said...

@ October 3, 2012 10:23 AM

---------------

Stupid? Hear the chants. The chants are political formulated, rather than economic. 'Death to the government' and 'Death to Syria (Assad)' were loudly chanted.

Anonymous said...

The color (green) revolution might be on the rise again. Problem is that they will be totally smashed just as before if they dont arm themselves.

Sanford said...

Anon 10:56

The anti Syria sentiment from protestors is directed not at the innocent Syrian people, but the regime... much like 2009 protests in Iran- Iranians were trying to effect change before things fell apart... too late now for protests- collapse is on.

See what al-Assad is doing to Aleppo today...

That said, Iranians are justified to be angry with Tehran sending money to al-Assad regime (to support mutual military-hegemonic ambitions) while Iranian citizen is going bankrupt.

Syrians did not cast off regime in time... Iranians have very little time to get it right.

Tehran will run out of FX reserves and other money... failed govt cannot print its way out- see Zimbabwe for process... and good luck, I hope Iranian citizen better days, but that they must secure for themselves with free and capable government.

Anonymous said...

Their frustration is clearly against the Government due to economic problems felt by all in Iran. When you loose so much in such short period and see no end or hope and the President of the country rants for three hours live on National TV and blames Media and other branches of government and gives little to no clear path to recovery then these reactions should be expected. The government of Iran now cannot agree on what the problem is let alone the solutions, They are in deep structural problems.

Anonymous said...

The difference between Spain and Greece is that Iran's economic problems are directly caused by foreign intervention/sanctions. Thus it's harder to blame the government.

Anonymous said...

Annon 10:23 AM

It's the regime stupid!

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:43 PM

Rubbish! It's the so called government.

Anonymous said...

1:43 You're right.

The majority of Iran's population do not lay the blame on the Iranian government, only a small percentage do. An extremly large portion of the population support the government even more during harsher times such as this one. Similarly to the Iraqi invasion of Iran, pressure and intimdation from the outside tend to have a fomenting effect on the populace because of their piousness and strong inclination towards religious ideas and the so called "self sacrifice" mentality, even if this comes at a cost such as reduced standard of living.

Nader Uskowi said...

The worsening economic situation cannot possibly act as a factor to rally the people behind their government; on the contrary this type of grievance could escalate into serious anti-government sentiments and actions. Big mistake, and out of touch with realities on the ground, to compare this to the sense of nationalism that united the people against Saddam’s aggression.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:12 PM

Well you're wrong buddy.The majority of people don't support the regime because if they did the regime wouldn't be putting Basij all over the place.
And secondly the people are no longer willing to sacrifice themselves for a corrupt and bankrupt system of government that basically will soon be thrown into the dustbin of history.
Oh and by the way stop supporting yourself pretending to be other anons.