(UPI) Eli J. Lake - In Tehran, demonstrations against the government have raged for more than seven straight days - and spread to other cities - forcing the regime to bring in outside militias to attempt to put down popular unrest because the local police have refused to act. The Islamic revolution of 1979 has turned into a corrupt and autocratic regime despised by its subjects. In Tehran, young people openly hold hands, drink alcohol, and listen to rock music. The police in the big cities have stopped enforcing Islamic moral codes in any meaningful sense. Some women in the recent protests have taken to burning their veils. The country's oil workers have stopped working because they have not been paid in some cases for two months. Books on Persian pre-Islamic culture are among the most popular in Iran's bookstores.
2003-06-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive