Terror in Isfahan

Bill Keller describes what it’s like outside Tehran. Horror: At one point, a white S.U.V. with a red ambulance-style light raced up behind a knot of protesters and smashed into them, running one over before racing a few blocks to the protection of the riot police. Bands of Basiji, the authorized plainclothes vigilantes riding motorbikes ...

Bill Keller describes what it's like outside Tehran. Horror:

Bill Keller describes what it’s like outside Tehran. Horror:

At one point, a white S.U.V. with a red ambulance-style light raced up behind a knot of protesters and smashed into them, running one over before racing a few blocks to the protection of the riot police.

Bands of Basiji, the authorized plainclothes vigilantes riding motorbikes and wielding long truncheons, were let loose by the hundreds to sow fear far afield from the actual unrest. Many wore the green headbands of the opposition — possibly to camouflage, or to confuse.

At one point a group of bystanders (including one journalist with a gift for being in the wrong place) was cornered on the ancient Si-o-Seh Bridge and faced a choice between getting their heads broken or tumbling 20 feet to the dry Zayandeh River bed. At the last minute, the thugs were distracted by other prey to beat on.

Tag: Iran

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