Official media organs of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been very keen to portray the recent riots in English cities as legitimate political protest against an unpopular government.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, which is affiliated to the elite revolutionary guards, has given extensive coverage to the rioting and looting across Britain. “We advise the monarchical regime of Britain to respect the rights of its people by avoiding savage behaviour,”
They would – to paraphrase Mandy Rice Davies – say that though, wouldn’t they?
It’s a shame that their attempt to provide evidence for their worldview consists of publishing photographs in their newspapers which were taken a long way away from London and Birmingham though.
Among the pictures is a one of a man whose face is covered in blood, which the Daily Mail had published in September 2010 alongside a story about security plans ahead of a football match between Manchester United and Rangers. Another photo used by Fars was taken from a 2009 Washington protest in support of the Palestinians. One appeared to be from Chile, and featured a road sign in Spanish. One image showed a street full of police but was actually taken at the Notting Hill carnival in 2008.A picture showing police on horseback was from the miners’ strike in 1984.
How funny. The sooner the Iranian people rise up and get rid of these clueless buffoons the better.
Alan A adds:
Sorry to semi-hijack this post.
However, here’s an open goal for the Islamic Republic of Iran, if they wanted to complain about British authoritarianism (ha ha!).
You’ll remember that the Islamic Republic closed down a water fight, last month, for “immorality”. The organisers were then paraded on telly, to confess their crimes.
In Essex, we do things differently:
According to a statement posted on the Essex police force Web site — under the headline: “Police Reassure Residents They Are Working to Keep County Safe” — a 20 year-old man, “who allegedly sent messages from a BlackBerry encouraging people to join in a water fight,” was arrested and charged under a provision of “the Serious Crime Act.” The man was released on bail, ahead of a court appearance on Sept. 1.
The police statement also explained that the force’s officers “have vowed to take a robust approach to anyone who uses social networking sites to stimulate fictitious rumors.”
After the force announced the bust on Twitter, several other users of the social network asked if the original tweet was a joke. That prompted the force to post a second message an hour later explaining that while the arrest was made to head off a water fight, “police believe there may be more involved in light of recent disorder.”
It may be that “there may be more involved” than a water fight. Or, perhaps it was a situationist attempt by the Essex-based fighters to draw a direct parallel with the Iranian response. Or, perhaps, it was just a water fight.
Who knows!
Gene adds:
“We advise the monarchical regime of Britain to respect the rights of its people by avoiding savage behaviour”
And who knows more about savage behavior than the Iranian regime?
