Stop Fundamentalism – In a rare development unseen since 1979 revolution that resulted in the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah in Iran, Tehran Bazaar was completely shut down by shop owners. Also, at the same time, demonstration erupted in different parts of the capital city, including the Bazaar, blaming Ahmadinejad’s government for the current economic crisis.
Meanwhile an Iranian trade body, associated with the regime, condemned the protests linking them to the Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).
The MEK was removed by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the US Department of State’s foreign terrorist organizations list just recently. Iranian officials condemned Secretary’s decision considering the action a double standard with regards to terrorism by the United States.
Iran’s currency, Rial, lost significant value since last week trading at about half of the value it held last week. An Iranian exchange dedicated website, mesghal.com, stopped reporting the value of Dollar since Tuesday, leaving a single dash in place of the amount showed for US Dollar. The latest value reported by Mesghal was 37,500 Rials per Dollar. Reports indicate that the price has gone up to 40000.
Demonstrators clashed with riot police yesterday and many arrests have been reported. Police also has arrested money exchangers to prevent sale of Dollar. Angry crowd blocked the streets with car tires and garbage bins setting them on fire.
There are reports about arrest of two European tourists who were filming the demonstrations. No news about them has been released by the government yet.
Tehran police has arrested individuals it says are linked to the unrest.
