A statement issued jointly by Mir-Hossain Musavi and Mehdi Karrubi said, “Today in Egypt—despite tension and violence—protesters have been given permission to demonstrate to show which side has greater support. Therefore, we believe that in Iran, if the opposition were given permission to demonstrate, it would become clear which side has a popular base and support.”
The description of events in Egypt was far out of line with reality, but the point of the statement really had nothing to do with Egypt. It was another part of the Green Movement’s effort to pair the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings with the 2009 protests in Iran and to counter the regime’s effort to portray the Arab uprisings as inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution.
The pair issued another hard-hitting statement Tuesday denouncing the ruling establishment in Iran as “anti-religion” and describing the current leaders as “hooligans.”
“Today,” the statement said, “the regime is hiding behind this concern that, if it does not exist, religion will vanish. By repeatedly voicing alarms, it tries to rally and organize the religious strata behind itself. But in reality, what has hurt the religious atmosphere of our society the most is the anti-religion and oppressive behavior of the regime itself.”
The opposition has made previous calls for permits to hold public demonstrations. They are simply ignored by the regime.
Opposition figures say they hope that this time the regime will be too embarrassed to refuse permission for a demonstration to support revolution in the Arab world. Others said the regime would most likely ignore the opposition and call its own state sponsored demonstrations to be held after Friday prayers.