June 19, 2009
Posted: 1:35 am
June 19, 2009
The New York Post
THREE days of mourning protests will culminate in marches across Iran tomorrow. But the real showdown may come today -- as both sides face each other at the traditional Friday prayer gathering on the Tehran University campus.
Tehran was a sea of black yesterday as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, clad in the color of mourning, marched to pay tribute to 11 anti-regime protesters killed by security forces this week -- eight in Tehran, two in Shiraz and one in Tabriz.
Similar marches were held simultaneously in most major cities across the nation -- with some, such as those in Tabriz and Shiraz, attracting record crowds. The three days of "collective grief" reaches its apogee at noon tomorrow with mass marches throughout the country.
But all forces are gathering for the Friday prayer gathering.
The regime has been busing in thousands of supporters from the provinces for the occasion. Meanwhile, opposition spokesmen claim they have the numbers to "drown the oppressors in a sea of rage."
That the regime regards today's prayer gathering as a decisive moment is indicated by the fact that "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead the prayers in person.
Khamenei was appointed Friday prayer leader of Tehran in 1986, a position he has jealously guarded since -- even though, over the last 23 years, he has attended the prayers on few occasions, mostly during the Iran-Iraq war. His decision to jump into the fray now shows that he's genuinely worried.
But it is also a high-risk move.
He may manage to calm the situation -- especially if his behind-the-scenes efforts to divide the protest movement's leadership make headway.
On the other hand, he may face a hostile crowd of hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, chanting the popular slogan: "Marg bar diktator!" (Death to the dictator!)
If that happens, Khamenei could face a fiasco like the one Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu did in December 1989 -- a public humiliation that spread into near-universal unrest, and the dictator's downfall.
The state-owned media present Khamenei's decision to appear in public as an "act of courage." It may also be an act of desperation.
THREE days of mourning protests will culminate in marches across Iran tomorrow. But the real showdown may come today -- as both sides face each other at the traditional Friday prayer gathering on the Tehran University campus.
Tehran was a sea of black yesterday as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, clad in the color of mourning, marched to pay tribute to 11 anti-regime protesters killed by security forces this week -- eight in Tehran, two in Shiraz and one in Tabriz.
Similar marches were held simultaneously in most major cities across the nation -- with some, such as those in Tabriz and Shiraz, attracting record crowds. The three days of "collective grief" reaches its apogee at noon tomorrow with mass marches throughout the country.
But all forces are gathering for the Friday prayer gathering.
The regime has been busing in thousands of supporters from the provinces for the occasion. Meanwhile, opposition spokesmen claim they have the numbers to "drown the oppressors in a sea of rage."
That the regime regards today's prayer gathering as a decisive moment is indicated by the fact that "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead the prayers in person.
Khamenei was appointed Friday prayer leader of Tehran in 1986, a position he has jealously guarded since -- even though, over the last 23 years, he has attended the prayers on few occasions, mostly during the Iran-Iraq war. His decision to jump into the fray now shows that he's genuinely worried.
But it is also a high-risk move.
He may manage to calm the situation -- especially if his behind-the-scenes efforts to divide the protest movement's leadership make headway.
On the other hand, he may face a hostile crowd of hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, chanting the popular slogan: "Marg bar diktator!" (Death to the dictator!)
If that happens, Khamenei could face a fiasco like the one Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu did in December 1989 -- a public humiliation that spread into near-universal unrest, and the dictator's downfall.
The state-owned media present Khamenei's decision to appear in public as an "act of courage." It may also be an act of desperation.
