[Adrien]

I don't know if you heard of it (it is making a scandal here) but yesterday or the day before yesterday the police, the special forces and the "secret services" arrested opponents to the Iranian regime.

It's something nobody really understands, because the group was officially recognized by the DST (semi secret services), and was living in the same city for two decades, with the protection of the government.

They didn't commit one terrorist attack, were reporting their moves to the autorities every day of the week, were accepting to be guarded 24/7 by Gendarmes and all...

So why did they arrest them? It seems that they did just to piss off the americans, who are also protecting the group, which is totally stupid.

The fact is that the consequences are big: protests are being held since the arrestations, people are trying to burn themselves (yes!), apparently two women tried to commit suicide, etc...

Of course, Teheran thanked Paris.

[Krasniy Yastreb]

I heard about this on the news, where they were described as an 'Iranian opposition group'. Where's the harm in that??? And I'm sure not even the French government would do something like that to rile the US.

Unless of course some of the bullshit US propaganda about the French being Iran's best buddies with arms deals etc. is true, but other than that I don't know...

[Adrien]

Well the problem is that they are not an unknown underground terrorist opposition group that poses bombs, they are an official group recognized and controlled by the french government (and certainly other european governments) for twenty years (which means that it's the socialist government that started helping them).

And now, from one day to another, they say that they were "planning terrorist attacks in europe, but not in france". Well, i won't say that it's not true but it seems more than a bit odd (i mean they've been here for twenty years, never did one bad thing, and -strangely- it happens when the opposition is growing stronger in Iran).

I forgot to mention it but they raided the European Center of the organization, and some members exiled in Belgium and all arrived very soon after the events to protest.

Unless of course some of the bullshit US propaganda about the French being Iran's best buddies with arms deals etc.

Well i hope that's not true.

[Boondock Saint]

Wait a second ...

American view point alert ...

I saw one dude who torched themselves on tv ... actually I saw two of them who did it ... it was on CNN ...

CNN reported they were members of a group accused of terrorism ... they made no mention that they were an Anti-Iran regime group ...

It doesnt seem to make sense to me ... other then trying to stem support for the Iranian student movement or like someone else said to spite the US.

Like I said I have only heard very little about it ... what I do know is a co-workers nephew is a student in Iran ... I will ask her today if she has spoken to him and how things are going since that all started ...

[Demosthenes]

Ok, I'm totally lost, whose side am I supposed to be on? This thing has more twists and turns than Disneyland Intifadah... Oh well... uh...Death to uh...well I know somebody is evil here, so they need to be nice!

[CrazyPete]

I saw on the CBC the guy on fire too. That takes a lot of guts, self discipline and belief in your movement. It is not a symbol to be taken lightly.

The French thought that they where planning a terrorist attack against them for unknown reasons, but there is always a reason.

[Adrien]

The French thought that they where planning a terrorist attack against them for unknown reasons, but there is always a reason.

That's not even that understandable, they said that they "were planning terrorist attacks in Europe, but not in France", but of course they did not give any other details. Something more strange is that during the press conference the guy went on other reasons and irrelevant points to justify the fact they were keeping the people in custody.

It doesnt seem to make sense to me ... other then trying to stem support for the Iranian student movement or like someone else said to spite the US.

I don't really know neither Boon, but those two possible reasons are not good reasons to do it.

CNN reported they were members of a group accused of terrorism ... they made no mention that they were an Anti-Iran regime group ...

They probably didn't precise that because things are already tensed between Washington and Teheran apparently, the second accusing the first of helping the opposition.

Ok, I'm totally lost, whose side am I supposed to be on?

For this one you can criticize the french government.

[blackbeard]

I wonder what kind of charge it is for setting yourself on fire in a public place .

[uglygoat]

so are they a group of expats who are not religious hardliners, maybe sympathetic with the reform movements taking place in iran now, and are pissed that the u.s. isn't invading iran?

i'm confused now too...

[CrazyPete]

The leader is a girl. She is calling for a ceasal of all self-immolation protests because she is "too flustered" already, or something like that. I have a few links from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and I'll see if Z-net is running anything.

Anyways, it is siad they where planning terror attacks on European nations using France as the base, so disregard what I said before.

The Mujahadeen Khalq

Iranian's Protest with Fire

Iranian Dissidents call for freedom

Nothing from Z-net unfortuanately

[Proctor]

Yeah, it actually received a reasonable amount of coverage in New Zealand. I'm as confused as you, if you're going to arrest Iranian troublemakers, why arrest the Democrats?

[Boondock Saint]

Yeah, it actually received a reasonable amount of coverage in New Zealand. I'm as confused as you, if you're going to arrest Iranian troublemakers, why arrest the Democrats?

Well if they were planning to commmit attacks across europe while using France as a home base ... honestly the French did the right thing ...

Thats if they really were planning attacks of course.

The question is ... who were they allegedly going to attack?

[Togliatti]

The protest it's goin all around Europe.
Yesterday,2 people burnt themselves in front of Iranian Embassy,in Rome.

I heard about accidents also in Switzerland,2 days ago.

[Adrien]

I forgot this thread.

Well if they were planning to commmit attacks across europe while using France as a home base ... honestly the French did the right thing ...

Well if they really did planned attacks then yes they did the right thing, but the whole affair is quite is not clear at all... Why a group calm for 20 years, under the protection of our government, under the (unofffical i think) protection of the USA, why this group would choose to plan terrorist attacks?

Plus it would be stupid: when we see the context of the protests in Iran, terrorist attacks wouldn't be useful at all, it would discredit the movement. These guys don't look stupid, if they wanted to support the protests they would have used what they've been doing for 20 years (from what i know, maybe i'm wrong): peaceful things.

That's why it looks so strange, and that's why to explain it some people think of a stupid move to challenge the americans, like what a child would do to be steal the looks.

The protest it's goin all around Europe.

Yes, it has taken an incredible scale.

[Efrem Da King]

God*mn frogs. I always said we should just turn europe into a big pond. Or rather just france and germany. THOSE DIRTY SCUM DESERVE TO DROWN I TELL YOU DROWN. Besides that helps stem the rise of the seas due to "global warming" and we can store neucular waste there .

[Freedom]

Maybe this is just me, but i seem to remember that they are members of an Islam-Communist(Comslam) type terrorist group. They were supported and funded by Saddam Hussein and responsible for the deaths of up to 10 American soliders.

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/mek.htm

Has MEK targeted Americans?
Yes. In the early 1970s, angered by U.S. support for the pro-Western shah, MEK members launched an attack that killed several U.S. soldiers and civilians working on defense projects in Iran. (Experts say the attack may have been the work of a Maoist splinter faction of MEK operating beyond the control of the Rajavi leadership.) MEK members may also have participated in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.

Sounds like a terrorist group to me.