April 15, 2016
The Tehran police department says it has installed surveillance cameras in parks and coffee shops in the city’s western neighborhoods.
The Tasnim news agency reported last Thursday that all parks, coffee shops and hookah cafes will eventually be under camera surveillance to assure compliance with the Islamic code of behavior.
The police department reports that about 460 cafes have been closed for such violations.
Last Wednesday, a photo of the France Bakery on Enghelab Avenue, a popular cafe in Tehran, was circulating on social media. It showed the cafe closed with a sign indicating the shutdown was due to a failure to comply with the behavior laws.
The police started installing closed circuit television cameras on streets about two years ago. They were controversial until a camera caught two men beating up a pedestrian and stealing from him. The video led to the arrests of the two and their rapid conviction
