People of Sanandaj stage demonstration against mullahs’ suppressive policies in Kurdistan
A number of residents, including two children killed
Monday evening, a large number of residents in the city of Sanandaj (capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province) staged a march in protest against the clerical regime’s suppressive policies, particularly the brutal and bloody crackdown of demonstrators last week in Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Divandareh and Baneh held in protest to the torture and grisly murder of a Kurdish activist, Seyyed Kamal Seyyed Ghader (a.k.a Showaneh). People of Sanandaj stage demonstration against mullahs’ suppressive policies in Kurdistan
A number of residents, including two children killed
Monday evening, a large number of residents in the city of Sanandaj (capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province) staged a march in protest against the clerical regime’s suppressive policies, particularly the brutal and bloody crackdown of demonstrators last week in Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Divandareh and Baneh held in protest to the torture and grisly murder of a Kurdish activist, Seyyed Kamal Seyyed Ghader (a.k.a Showaneh).
In solidarity with the demonstrators, a large number of shop owners closed their shops and the city’s Bazaar. Chanting antigovernment slogans, residents demonstrated in Isteqlal (Independence) and Nobovat squares, Safari, sixth of Bahman, Taj Ferdows, Shapour, Farah, and Vakil streets, as well as Gendarmerie, Namaki and Bardasht districts.
The clerical regime had put all its suppressive forces in Sanandaj on alert and dispatched special anti-riot units as reinforcement from Isfahan and Kermanshah to the city.
Fearing the spread of the protest, the State Security Forces (SSF) and anti-riot units attacked the demonstrators and opened fire on them. A number of people, including two children, were killed and dozens wounded.
Despite the brutality, protesters clashed with the SSF. The confrontation spread to Pasdaran, Ferdowsi, Hassan Abad, Keshavarz, Abidar, Sharif-abad, Shapour and Telgani streets as well as Kurdistan Boulevard. The most intense clashes erupted under the city’s main bridge, Mullah Veisi.
In the clashes, district 21 police precinct, several SSF vehicles and motorcycles were set on fire. A number of government offices and banks, including the central branch of Iran’s National Bank, were damaged. Special anti-riot units arrested dozens of young people and took them to unknown locations.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi hailed the defiant people of Sanandaj and elsewhere in Kurdistan and urged residents in other cities to rush to their aid. She also asked international human rights organizations to condemn the brutal suppression of the demonstration in Sanandaj and undertake steps to save the lives of those arrested.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 2, 2005
