By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Iran's Islamist leadership is worried that opposition forces in the country will use the cover of Quds Day - an annual 'national holiday' of anti-Israel rallies and marches - for anti-regime protests in Tehran.
Iranian dissidents, for their part, are encouraging just that outcome, in order to reignite the nascent local pro-democracy movement, which has primarily gone underground since massive rallies led to violent state repression in the wake of Iranian elections in June.
According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, reformists of all types are intending to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, even at the state-sponsored Quds Day rallies themselves.
Many Iranian dissidents active online urged supporters of "a free Iran" to attend the official state rallies in order to undermine them. Such rallies normally feature chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America", but some Iranians are planning to respond to the chant leaders with, "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei", in reference to Ahmadinejad and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In addition to general opposition to the regime, many protesters are planning to link their slogans to the theme of the day with demands to halt ongoing transfers of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.
They see the money transfers as "disregard for the Iranian people's money", which should be spent at home.
One Iranian activist wrote in an online forum: "This year Iranians are going to come to [the] streets to protest not Israel's occupation of Palestine, but occupation of Iran by the illegitimate and unwanted Islamic Republic of Iran."
Former Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini initiated Quds Day after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, but the idea quickly caught on internationally.
It is marked on the last Friday of Ramadan, which falls this week, and is meant to keep the issue of Israel at the forefront of Muslim thought at the climax of the month-long period of religious introspection and fasting. Read more here ...
Source: INN
Iran's Islamist leadership is worried that opposition forces in the country will use the cover of Quds Day - an annual 'national holiday' of anti-Israel rallies and marches - for anti-regime protests in Tehran.
Iranian dissidents, for their part, are encouraging just that outcome, in order to reignite the nascent local pro-democracy movement, which has primarily gone underground since massive rallies led to violent state repression in the wake of Iranian elections in June.
According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, reformists of all types are intending to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, even at the state-sponsored Quds Day rallies themselves.
Many Iranian dissidents active online urged supporters of "a free Iran" to attend the official state rallies in order to undermine them. Such rallies normally feature chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America", but some Iranians are planning to respond to the chant leaders with, "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei", in reference to Ahmadinejad and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In addition to general opposition to the regime, many protesters are planning to link their slogans to the theme of the day with demands to halt ongoing transfers of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.
They see the money transfers as "disregard for the Iranian people's money", which should be spent at home.
One Iranian activist wrote in an online forum: "This year Iranians are going to come to [the] streets to protest not Israel's occupation of Palestine, but occupation of Iran by the illegitimate and unwanted Islamic Republic of Iran."
Former Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini initiated Quds Day after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, but the idea quickly caught on internationally.
It is marked on the last Friday of Ramadan, which falls this week, and is meant to keep the issue of Israel at the forefront of Muslim thought at the climax of the month-long period of religious introspection and fasting. Read more here ...
Source: INN
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