So much for Women’s Rights!
Iranian authorities beat down and teargassed the brave women who showed up at this year’s rally for Women’s Rights in Tehran!
The Iranian women were protesting for more rights…
But, instead were beaten by the Iranian authorities! (AP)
The first reports are now coming from Iran saying that authorities are trying to break up a women’s rights protest in the capital of Tehran:
Reports from Tehran indicate that some 6,000 women have staged a protest in Tehran and the suppressive forces are trying to disperse them. Their protest started at around 5:00pm today and more people are joining them.
Demonstrators called for an end to misogyny and chanted “we are human beings but have no rights” and “we want equal rights with men.”
Other reports indicate that dozens of demonstrators have already been detained and taken away. Men and teenage boys are seen joining the women’s protest supporting their goals.
Police used teargas on the women protesters:
State Security Forces and plainclothes agents clamped down on the participants. They fired teargas at the crowd and brutally beat them up with batons. Some one hundred people were arrested and taken away in buses.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, hailed the heroic women who stood up for freedom and equality and called on women and youths across Iran to join the freedom-loving women of Tehran in support of those arrested.
She described the protest, held despite an atmosphere of absolute repression and suppressive efforts by the medieval regime to stop it, as a clear indication of Iranian women’s hatred and indignation towards the regime. She called on all human rights and women’s rights organizations to condemn the mullahs’ misogynistic policies and take urgent action to secure the release of those arrested.
The BBC reports that… When the women gathered the police almost immediately started beating them to disperse them, then pepper sprayed them when they crossed the street.
Iranian female police officers, left, beat female protesters, during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 12, 2006. Iranian police beat women at an equal rights demonstration in Tehran Monday, injuring at least one protester and arresting 20 others. (AP Photo)
Radio Free Europe reports that more than a dozen were arrested by Iranian police at the protest:
Iranian police today disrupted a gathering in Tehran of a group of women’s rights activists who were protesting legal discrimination.
Human rights activist Keyvan Rafi, who attended the gathering, tells RFE/RL that more than a dozen people were arrested.
“There were very tight security measures,” Rafi said. “There were maybe as many security forces as [participants]. Some of the women were arrested. [Despite that,] some peacefully chanted slogans such as, “Laws that are against women should be abolished.”
The activists were demanding equal legal rights in issues such as divorce, child custody, and inheritance.
There was quite a build up for this year’s protest. Rooz News, Aryamehr, Iranian Women, and The Spirit of Man are websites following the event.
A.M. Mora y Leon is reporting this news.
Pamela at Atlas Shrugs wrote about these brave women from Iran, yesterday.
