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Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6971010.ece
Iranian Protest Is Grassroots and Unstoppable, Say Activists
(Times-UK) Martin Fletcher - Iran's panicking regime is once again seeking to suppress the Green Movement by decapitating it. But decapitation will not work because the opposition is a bottom-up movement. It is a massive campaign of civil disobedience. "Ahmadinejad, Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards still don't get it," said one Iranian academic. "The Green Movement is a decentralized popular front run by local cells and local leaderships across the country. The main opposition figures do not control it." For the most part the demonstrations are spontaneous outpourings of anger. Protests are now common not just in Tehran, but in conservative cities such as Mashad and Qom. The regime's use of violence during the holy month of Muharram, its lack of respect for Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri after his recent death, and other sacrilegious acts have eroded its support among the pious poor. One activist said: "Do Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and the elite of the Revolutionary Guards really think that I, or anyone else, after being beaten by the police, witnessing the murder of Iranians on the streets, hearing stories of rape and murder in the prisons, and knowing of electoral cheating, will ever remain passive and quiet? None of us will ever accept the rule of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei after what they have done."