Young people and activist have put up posters and distributed leaflets in various cities calling to turn the national celebrations of Chaharshanbeh Souri (Fire Festival) into a nationwide uprising against the clerical regime’s dictatorship.
In Mashhad, on February 25 and 26, protestors on Mashhad University Street, burned pictures of the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and his predecessor, Khomeini, while chanting anti-regime slogans. Graffiti-writing on walls calling for uprising on Fire Festival has also become widespread in Mashhad.
At the same time, during recent nights, despite the regime’s check points and patrols by the State Security Forces (SSF), youths have continued to use firecrackers and fireworks in various parts of Tehran in anticipation of the Fire Festival. These locations include Heshmatieh Square, Tehran Pars, Narmak, Sadeqieh, Kouy-e Fedows, Ekbatan, and streets of Bab-e Homayoun, Naser Khosrow, and Saadi.
In Tehran’s Eshrat Abad, because of a huge presence of youths and loud blasts of firecrackers, the regime’s SSF have begun a body search of young passersby under the pretext of addressing neighbors’ concerns. Members of the paramilitary Bassij Force also stop and search cars with young drivers and passengers. In Tehran’s Sattar Khan district, youths tie a string of firecrackers together and place them on the streets, where they produce loud noises after exploding, to the chagrin the regime’s agents.
In Isfahan, on the afternoon of Monday, March 8, loud noises from firecrackers were heard in the streets of Ahmad Abad, Mir, Zeinabieh, Vafai juncture, Charbagh Khajou, and Manouchehri. The Iranian regime has stationed a regular SSF unit on Enqelab Square, which is traditionally one of the primary locations for holding Fire Festival celebrations.
In other Iranian cities like Shiraz, Kermanshah, Rasht, Lahijan, and Boushehr, protestors have distributed leaflets calling for participation in the Fire Festival celebrations, with some beginning earlier by using fire crackers and fireworks.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
March 10, 2010