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| Axis of Evil |
| Iran detains 80 after protest turns to riot |
| 2002-07-24 |
| Iranian police are detaining 80 demonstrators in the northeastern province of Khorasan after a legal protest against its reorganization was marred by rioting, a Tehran daily said Wednesday. A total of 100 people were arrested after Monday's demonstration in the town of Quchan, but 20 of them were later released without charge, the Tosseyeh newspaper reported, citing municipal governor Amir Movahedizadeh. Police intervened to disperse the demonstration, which had prior authorization from the interior ministry, after youngsters erected roadblocks of burning cars and tyres, the paper said. It was the latest in a string of angry protests to have hit Khorasan province over the past 12 months, after the authorities announced plans to divide the sprawling province up into three smaller ones. The battle to join the main regional centre of Mashhad as a provincial capital inevitably left disappointed candidates among the region's smaller cities, including Quchan. In Sabzevar, another Khorasan town that did not make the grade, violent protests in August last year left at least one person dead, according to press reports. A total of 154 demonstrators were arrested there, of whom 34 were eventually jailed. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |