[R-G] MSM Coverage of "United for Iran" Protests

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Wow, even the protests of "20 Iranians" are given the international
MSM coverage.  Not a single word about opposing economic sanctions or
threats of war against Iran here, needless to say. -- Yoshei

<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJHXput3txLg7m_v8iTZm5BLIX6AD99LTGR80>
Protesters call for end to Iranian rights abuses

By JILL LAWLESS (AP) – 13 hours ago

LONDON — Protesters around the world called on Iran Saturday to end
its clampdown on opposition activists, demanding the release of
hundreds rounded up during demonstrations against the country's
disputed election.

Groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International backed a
global day of action, with protests planned in more than 80 cities,
including several in the United States.

The protesters want Iranian authorities to release what they say are
hundreds, or even thousands, of people detained during protests that
followed the presidential election last month that returned Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to power.

Inside Iran, as well, Iranian police and pro-government militia
attacked and scattered hundreds of protesters who had gathered in
Tehran in response to the global demonstrations of solidarity,
witnesses said.

Demonstrators in Vanak and Mirdamad districts chanted "death to the
dictator" and "we want our vote back" before they were attacked and
beaten by police Saturday. The witnesses spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared Ahmadinejad's victory valid.

In the United States, several thousand people gathered in Los Angeles
and San Francisco in rallies Saturday night.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, many wore green in
solidarity with the Iranian protesters. Coordinator Elahe Amani said
the protesters called for the United Nations to send a delegation to
Iran in order to investigate the villence. Thousands more shouted
"Free Iran" earlier Saturday in front of San Francisco City Hall.

Several hundred protesters assembled just off Times Square in New York
City. One man hoisted a green placard, splattered with red, that read,
"Where is my vote?" The crowd chanted, "Stop the killing. Stop the
torture." A small group of Iranians in New York have been on a
three-day hunger strike and are holding frequent demonstrations
outside the United Nations to call on the world body to investigate
human rights abuses in Iran.

In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators were marching from a U.N.
office downtown to the National Mall for a rally.

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi told some 200 protesters in
Chicago that in Iran protesters could be beaten by authorities and
then forced to sign a false confessions. Saberi was recently released
by Iran after being convicted of spying for the U.S. in a case that
drew widespread criticism of the Mideast state's justice system.

Police said about 600 protesters joined a "noisy but peaceful"
demonstration, outside the Iranian embassy in London, one of a series
of events in cities across Europe. In Brussels, Belgium, protesters
held placards carrying images of the detained or dead, including Neda
Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old whose death — beamed around the world on
the Internet — became a rallying cry for opponents of the regime.

In Amsterdam, several hundred people watched Iranian Nobel Peace prize
laureate Shirin Ebadi urge the international community to reject the
outcome of the Iranian election and called for a new vote monitored by
the United Nations.

About 80 people wearing headbands, wristbands or bandanas in green —
the color of Iran's protest movement — demonstrated in front of the
U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, while several hundred people
staged a rally at Paris' Trocadero square overlooking the Eiffel
Tower.

"We've had enough of religious regimes that don't have the Iranian
people's best interest at heart," said protester Sakineh Davoodi, a
50-year-old cashier from Iran who has lived in France for 23 years.

About 350 people gathered in downtown Vienna, and about 150 protesters
gathered in Rome. In Norway, about 250 Iranian emigres met at a
conference center on the outskirts of Oslo, and about 3,000 people
gathered in Stockholm and others in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, some 20 Iranians — among them
refugees and students — gathered outside the local press club to
protest the Iranian crackdown, yelling "Death to the dictator!"

"Innocent Iranians are being killed," said Hessam Moghimi, 27, who has
lived in Pakistan for about eight years. "We want justice for the
blood that's been spilled."

There were small protests in the Australian cities of Sydney,
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and the capital, Canberra. About 80
people gathered in Tokyo, draping green scarves around their necks and
lighting candles.

In Seoul, South Korea, where about 30 people rallied, Amnesty's Park
Jin-ok said the group was calling for "immediate and unconditional
release" of detainees.

About 20 gathered in a small square in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to take part
in a 30-minute rally. Fariba Vahdat, a member of Brazil's Baha'i
community, said she attended to protest "the cruelty being meted out
on the streets of Iran."

Dozens of activists gathered outside the embassy of Iran in Prague to
protest the detention of those who protested election results in Iran.
"The people could face torture and their lives are in danger," said
Lenka Pitronova, an organizer of the rally.

The demonstrators also want the U.N. to investigate alleged rights
abuses and say Tehran must allow freedom of expression and assembly.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held protests after the election
denouncing it as fraudulent until security forces launched a heavy
crackdown, arresting hundreds and killing at least 20.

Associated Press Writers Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul, Rod McGuirk in
Canberra, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Nahal Toosi in Islamabad, Arthur Max
in Amsterdam, Bradley Klapper in Geneva, Jenny Barchfield in Paris,
Karel Janicek in Prague, Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Stanley Lehman
in Sao Paulo, Verena Dobnik in New York and Veronika Oleksyn, in
Vienna contributed to this report.