IRAN: 50 PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN AZERBAIJAN
Tabriz, 25 May (AKI) - Fifty people have been arrested following demonstrations across Iranian Azerbaijan. A police spokesman in Tabriz said on Thursday that they were accused of being "enemy agents." Protests were reported in the past two days in Tabriz, Urmia, Ardebil, Mianeh and Zanja, all in Iranian Azerbaijan, to protest against an anti-Azeri cartoon published last Friday by state-owned paper "Iran", subsequently closed by the cabinet.
Ethnic Azeris, mostly living in norh-west Iran, make up about 25 percent of Iranians and are the second largest ethnic group after Persians who account for 50 percent of the population.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad however said the protests had been organised by the United States.
"The United States try to create ethnic instability in the Islamic Republic to destabilize the country," the president told state television.
The cartoon published in Friday's edition of "Iran" newspaper represented a boy speaking to a cockroach in Persian while the cockroach replied "What?" in the Azeri language. The cartoonist and editor were arrested and the paper, owned by Iranian state agency IRNA, was closed indefinitely.
Ethnic Azeris, mostly living in norh-west Iran, make up about 25 percent of Iranians and are the second largest ethnic group after Persians who account for 50 percent of the population.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad however said the protests had been organised by the United States.
"The United States try to create ethnic instability in the Islamic Republic to destabilize the country," the president told state television.
The cartoon published in Friday's edition of "Iran" newspaper represented a boy speaking to a cockroach in Persian while the cockroach replied "What?" in the Azeri language. The cartoonist and editor were arrested and the paper, owned by Iranian state agency IRNA, was closed indefinitely.
posted by Marko at 5/25/2006 09:29:00 AM
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