Tehran: A top Iranian cleric warned the
opposition today against holding an anti-government
demonstration to counter an official commemoration of the
storming of the US embassy by students 40 years ago.
November 4 "is a day of struggle against oppression
worldwide," Ahmad Jannati, head of the powerful Guardians
Council, said in a Friday prayer sermon broadcast on state
radio.
"Some people who have made plans for this day must
know that their plans will fail," he said.
On November 4, 1979, Islamist students stormed the US
embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats hostage, holding
them for 444 days in a crisis that provoked the severance of
diplomatic relations with Washington.
Since then the authorities have organised an annual
demonstration to commemorate the event, but this year calls
have gone out on the Internet for the opposition to stage a
counter-demonstration.
On September 18, opposition supporters took to the
streets in their tens of thousands during another annual
protest, the pro-Palestinian Quds (Jerusalem) Day, to voice
support for main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Mousavi came second to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the
June 12 Presidential election that returned the hardliner to
power.
Bureau Report
