 | Rantburg welcomes Iran to the "International Protest Hotties Hall of Fame." |
HUNDREDS of thousands of Iranian football fans flouted the Islamic state's moral codes as they took to the streets after qualifying for the World Cup. The national side's 1-0 win over minnows Bahrain booked Iran's place at the 2006 finals in Germany, and set off a country-wide party. Some women breached the strictures of Islamic rule by taking off their mandatory headscarves, waving them in the air and dancing with young men. | If you listen closely, you can hear the echoes from the exploding turbans... |
Once more, football served as a vehicle for reform in the Islamic republic: more than 20 young female fans forced their way into the stadium before the game, defying a 26-year ban on their presence in the stands. | Now they've dunnit. The stadium will have to be fumigated, bleached, and vaccinated now. |
"Freedom is my right, Iran is my country," they chanted. One woman, Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, missed the game after breaking her leg when guards tried to push the women out by closing a gate at Tehran's Freedom Stadium. But it was worth it, she said: "A leg gets broken, but maybe it will lead to a change in the law. Or an issue regarding women's rights might be brought to attention." | Sing it, sisters. Can I hear a "Hell yeah!" |
Once her friends had pushed their way through, they were given seats on the orders of Mohammad Khatami, the moderate president, who watched the game from the VIP section. | He felt the winds of change ablowin'. And decided it would look bad to have some pretty wimmin beat up on live TeeVee. |
The gate-crashers were not the only women at the game, attended by 80,000 male fans. Presidential candidate Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the head of Iran's Sports Organisation, had agreed for a few score women to be present at the game in segregated rows. With elections looming next Friday, supporters of the eight presidential candidates were present to canvass support. But football enthusiasm has far outweighed any excitement about the lacklustre presidential race. "Who cares about the elections?" laughed one young woman draped in the red, white and green Iranian flag. "We're going to the World Cup!"
A bit more at the link. 
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