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November 1, 2011 Special Dispatch No. 4242

'Occupy Wall Street' - Reactions and Support in the Arab & Muslim World: 'The United States Will Fall' — Iranian Students Demonstrate in Support of 'Occupy Wall Street,' and Hold News Conference at Former U.S. Embassy in Tehran

November 1, 2011
Iran | Special Dispatch No. 4242

Following are excerpts from a TV report on a demonstration held by Iranian students in support of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests in the U.S. The report aired on the Iranian English-language Press TV on October 31, 2011.




Reporter: "Iranian students support American protestors. The Iranian University Student Basij Committee expressed their support for the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement. The students reiterated their support for the movement in a news conference, held in the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, where numerous espionage equipment and documents were found, when the students took over the embassy on November 4, 1979."

Ali Jamshidi of the Islamic Societies Union of Independent Students: "You must understand that if the Occupy Wall Street labor movement in the U.S. is influenced by the Islamic awakening, and changes the movement in any morals [sic], the United States will fall."

Reporter: "In addition, Iranian students showed their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement by holding their demonstration outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran. Iran and the United States do not have diplomatic relations, and the Swiss embassy in Tehran hosts the U.S. interests section in Iran.

"The students had some questions for U.S. officials."

Student Basij Representative Mostafa Hozouri: "I have three questions for Clinton.

"One: Why does the U.S., which claims to be a leader in freedom and human rights, oppress the protests of its own people?

"Two: Why do the authorities confiscate the heaters from the protestors, who are in the cold?

"And three: Why do they beat some protestors, in a way for them to need brain surgery?" [...]

Reporter: "Iranian students, talking in support of the Wall Street movement, say that Wall Street is a symbol of evil and the root of all troubles the U.S. has had with the rest of the world."


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