Iran

It was the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran and I thought I must be dreaming when I saw thousands of people in Azardi Square waving and shouting support for President Ahmadinejad. How could this be, just months ago there was a sea of green protestors in the streets shouting for his demise. All opposition leaders and their planned protests were silenced and the Green movement is shattered and demoralised, they were simply out-manoeuvred.

So where did all these people come from? The President had them all bussed in to fill Azardi Square with thousands of smiling, happy people, shouting their support. The President wanted the world to know that Iran has produced its first stock of 20 per cent-enriched uranium and that Iran is now a nuclear state. What a complete farce and how naive can he be to think that the world press wouldn't find out what's really going on over there.


The London Times said today "The regime disrupted mobile, email and text messaging services but the opposition managed to post some mobile telephone phone clips on the internet. They showed supporters chanting "Death to the Dictator" ripping down a poster of the Ayatollah and burning a Basiji's motorbike.


It's been a setback for the Green movement. One demonstrator said "People wonder where this movement is going. They show up every few weeks and get beaten, but to what end? We have lost our fear but we need to know where to go with our new-found courage".


Like the rest of the world, I was hoping the Green movment would prevail in Iran, take power and free the people. It's not looking likely at the moment.