Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran's main Islamic prayer sermon Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.
Outside, pro-government Basiji militiamen in front of a line of riot police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters who chanted "death to the dictator" and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Young protesters with green bandanas over their mouths and noses set a bonfire in the street and kicked away gas canisters, facing off with the security forces while others scattered.
The opposition aimed to turn the Friday prayers at Tehran University into a show of their continued strength despite heavy government suppression since the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, sat in the front row of worshippers, attending for the first time since the turmoil began. Many of the tens of thousands at the prayers wore headbands or wristbands in his campaign color green, or had green prayer rugs.
Unless this type of anger spreads to the rest of the country outside of Tehran, it will ultimately be futile. But I am rather surprised that the anger continues to be displayed so openly. And as long as there are fissures in the ruling elite and those elites maneuver for advantage, the simmering anger could still explode.
Still, remember that the elites are maneuvering for advantage and surely just want to leverage the anger of the protesters to win the power struggle. How many of those leaders truly want "freedom" as understood by the protesters? Darn few. Whoever wins the power struggle may be just as willing as Ahmadinejad to use force to suppress the protesters.
But once unleashed, growing protests will take on a life of their own that the ruling factions may not be able to control.
