Those Iranian Riots

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or watching the MSM you have to know by now that there were riots going on in Iran because of this:

Iranians smashed shop windows and set fire to a dozen gas stations in the capital yesterday, angered by the sudden start of a fuel rationing system that threatens to further increase the unpopularity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Police were sent to guard some stations after the violence, and there was calm during the day as motorists lined up to fill their tanks under the new restrictions.

The government had been warning for weeks that rationing was coming, but the announcement of its start just three hours before the plan took effect at midnight Tuesday startled people and sent them rushing to get one last fill-up.

The rationing is part of a government attempt to reduce the $10 billion it spends each year to import fuel that is then sold to Iranian drivers at less than cost to keep prices low.

Some bloggers got the news out quickly (via Gateway Pundit)

I am getting some first hand reports from inside of Iran about the situation resulted from fuel ration policy which will go into effect as of tonight midnight (local time) through out the country.

Angry people have blocked the main highway in Tehran and several serious clashes have occurred in gas stations across the capital. The amount of anger among the people is such that police forces have refused to intervene in some parts of the city where roads are blocked and people have shattered the buildings’ windows. And some reports indicate that 50 petrol stations were set ablaze in Tehran alone and at least 3 people died in the clashes.

And here are a few video’s making the rounds:

The Iranian government will continue to ration petrol, the parliamentary speakership announced, despite violent public protests overnight in the capital Tehran and elsewhere that erupted again on Wednesday. Deputy parliament speaker Javad Bahonar told MPs that oil minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh will shortly unveil a plan to sell petrol at market prices to private citizens who need to buy more than the 100 litres per month they are allowed under the government’s newly introduced rationing. Bahonar however declined to state what the commercial price of fuel would be.

Some MPs denied that the rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday had anything to do with the government’s rationing measures. "The attacks on the petrol pumps were organised well in advance by ‘agents provocateurs’ working for the US government, who incited some deranged individuals to set petrol stations alight," Morteza Tamaddon told journalists.

So while it appeared encouraging to begin with, it appears this one sputtered out.  The Iranian regime lives on.

Curt

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