[New York Times] Nazila Fathi and Michael Slackman - Step by step, Iran's leaders are successfully pushing back threats to their authority, crushing street protests, pressing challengers to withdraw or to limit their objections to the disputed presidential election and restricting the main opposition leader's ability to do much more than issue statements of outrage. There were still signs of widespread public anger and resentment toward the leadership, but no organization to channel it, political analysts said. But there were also signs of continued resistance. Only 105 out of the 290 members of Parliament took part in a victory celebration for Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, newspapers reported Thursday. Echoing a symbol of defiance to the shah, the ritual of 10 p.m. rooftop shouts of "God is great" and new chants of "Death to the dictator" has been growing stronger by the day.
2009-06-26 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive