Reports from the Fire Festival are not good, the situation is worse than last year
Despite massive preventive and repressive measures to thwart the celebration of the Fire Festival, defiant youth celebrated in various parts of Tehran and other cities and confronted the repressive forces.
IRGC Brig. Gen Hossein Rahimi, the Greater Tehran SSF Commander, told Tasnim news agency tonight: “Unfortunately, the reports are not good so far; We had over 25 cases of explosions, destruction, etc. The situation on the eve of the last Wednesday of this year (Iranian Calendar) is worse than last year,” he added, “Norm-breakers were arrested tonight and will be detained during the Nowruz holidays (Iranian New Year holiday begins on March 21 and ends on April 2, 2021). Their cars were also impounded tonight and will remain so until the end of the Nowruz holidays.”
In Tehran, the defiant youths in Gomrok and Abbasi squares tossed firecrackers marking Chaharshanbe Suri tradition. Shopkeepers also joined them.
In Javadiyeh (south) and Janatabad (northwest), Tehran, young people turned the streets into a battlefield by exploding firecrackers and sound grenades.
In Gohardasht, Karaj, the sound of explosions could be heard frequently.
In Andimeshk (southwest Iran), young people began using firecrackers in the morning, and the sound of crackers and explosions came from all parts of the city. The SSF did not dare to approach the youth. The SSF had increased its presence and patrols beginning last night to intimidate the people.
In Shahinshahr, from 18:45 (local Iran time), the sound of crackers could be heard throughout the city, especially on Kargar Street.
Meanwhile, according to Fars news agency, today, the Prosecutor’s Office in Khorasan Razavi issued a “serious warning” and threatened the participants in Chaharshanbe Suri ceremonies, saying, if caught, “The violators will be jailed between six months to three years.”
Since the third week of February, the crisis-riddled clerical regime has been taking deterrent and repressive measures to prevent an uprising by Iranian youth during the Fire Festival. In its call the social headquarters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) Organization on February 28, stated that the Fire Festival should be turned into an act of defiance against the ruling religious dictatorship.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
March 16, 2021
