Al Jazeera English’s Recounting of Thursday’s Mourning Marches
Like other foreign media outlets, Al Jazeera English reporters are not allowed to leave their offices or hotel rooms to cover the protests over the highly contested tenth presidential election in Iran. Instead, the reporters must now rely on the accounts of witnesses at the event for their reporting.
However, by the looks of this report about Thursday’s marches in mourning of those who lost their lives in the recent protests, Christiane Amanpour was correct in saying that though the foreign journalists have limited access to on the ground events, the stories they report are not being censored as of now:
Mousavi had issued a statement on his website calling for Thursday to be observed as a day of mourning for those killed during the protests against the election result.
Chanting “Peace be upon (Prophet) Muhammad and his family“, the opposition supporters, many dressed in black, marched in south Tehran, the witnesses said.
Mousavi had urged his supporters to wear black as a sign of remembrance and remain peaceful.
Al Jazeera’s Alireza Ronaghi, reporting from Tehran, said protesters from various walks of life had joined the march on Thursday “to get their votes back“.
“People were sad, they werequiet, but they were determined. That’s what we hear from the people who have been in the rally,” he said.
“I have also talked to others, they say that the quiet mood ruling over all the marches has gone to a new height recently.”
One witness said the marchers carried pictures of Mousavi and placards like “We have not had people killed to compromise and accept a doctored ballot box” and “Silent, keep calm”.
Mousavi somehow managed to reach the venue and addressed the huge crowd.
He announced that a rally scheduled for Friday had been cancelled, and that his supporters should prepare for a major march planned for Saturday afternoon from Tehran’s Revolution Square to Freedom Square.
Mousavi has applied for a permission at the interior ministry but it is unclear whether this would be issued.
Discussing Mousavi’s options, Sadegh Zibalalam, who teaches politics at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera: “So far he has been very determined and defiant.
“In every speech that he has made during the past five days, he has assured his followers that he is not going to back down, that he is going to stand firm, and he doesn‘t the accept the election results.
“He has been very, very determined and very dependable.”
About 100 people gathered outside the United Nations building in Tehran earlier on Thursday urging the Guardian Council to take action over the disputed poll.
Iran‘s Mousavi addresses protesters [Al Jazeera English]
View Comments