Iran Cracking Down on Flash Mob Water Gun Fights
- Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:32am by
Christopher Santarelli
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Iran is trying to put down a new wave of civil disobedience — flash mobs of young people who break into boisterous fights with water guns in public parks. A group of water fighters was arrested over the weekend, and a top judiciary official warned Monday that “counter-revolutionaries” were behind them.
Police swooped in to arrest a number of people who had gathered on Friday in a Tehran park to hold a water fight, the acting commander of Iran’s police Gen. Ahmad Radan said, quoted in newspapers on Monday.
Radan said the group had been planning the water fight through the Internet and had “intended to break customs.” He vowed police would act to prevent future attempts and that participants on trial.
Throughout the summer, Iranian police have been cracking down. In the first incident, in July, hundreds of young men and women held a water fight in Tehran’s popular Water and Fire Park, spraying each other with water guns and splattering bottles of water on one another. Police detained dozens of those involved.
Since then, police have arrested dozens more involved in similar water fights in parks in major cities around the country.
Hard-liners see the water fights as unseemly and immoral, breaking taboos against men and women simply mixing, much less dousing each other with water and playing in the streets.
But authorities see a darker hand as well, worrying that the gatherings could weaken adherence among young people to Iran’s cleric-led Islamic rule or even build into outright protests against Iran’s the regime. Iran’s leadership has been very wary of any gathering, whatever their nature, since the massive protests against the 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The anti-regime uprisings that spread around the Arab world this year only add to the leadership’s worries of any sign of “people power.”
On Monday, the spokesman of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, accused unnamed foreign hands of organizing the water gun campaign.
“This is not simply a game with water. This act is being guided from abroad,” he said. Some of those detained Friday have admitted “they were deceived, and some said they came out based on a call from a counterrevolutionary,” he said, quoted in the conservative news web site Tabnak.
State TV has aired statements by some arrested in previous water fight crackdowns, admitting they were motivated by “foreign invitations.” Some confessed they were given water guns to use. Most detainees were released afterward.
Many of the water fights are organized through calls on Facebook, which is banned in Iran though Iranian frequently access it through proxies. Most of the Facebook pages are not expressly political — but they express the sort of secular youth culture of Iranians unhappy with the country’s Islamic rule.
Friday‘s water fight had been planned to be held in Tehran’s Water and Fire Park, named for its numerous fountains and light shows.
Iran frequently accuses the United States and Iranian opposition groups in exile of fomenting opposition activity on its soil.
The protests sparked by Ahmadinejad’s re-election, which opponents said was fraudulent, was the biggest challenge in 30 years to Iran’s Islamic clerical regime. But security forces heavily crushed the wave of protests, and since then the opposition has been unable to return to the streets.
Cracking down on water-gun games reflects the leadership’s wariness of any sign of anti-regime sentiment.
But even some conservatives who are strong supporters of Islamic rule thought arresting young people was going too far.
“I feel bad when I see some youth were detained for water fights. Those who support such detentions think the Islamic system is somehow very fragile,” said Mohammad Reza Zaeri, a conservative cleric, on a state TV talk show recently.
Lawmaker Mohammad Hossein Moghimi, another conservative, said young people were holding water fights because of a lack of other entertainment and because of so many other restrictions on them.
“Sometimes, we make it too hard for people and constrict them, so they react,” he said. “We have to make people comfortable.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Comments (50)
nelan72
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:23pmIran has a big problem. An informed public who want freedom. Chip chip chip the iranian people WILL carve themselves there own freedom.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 5:52pmHey! Islam sucks! Duh …
Report Post »db321
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:16pmA lot of people have it wrong – remember Obama did not defend the protesters in Iran. You see Iran is coming around full circle after realizing they were used as “useful Idiots” to help the Obama like Ahmadinejad get in power. Their dictator promised change and they fell for it hook, line and sinker.
They tried protesting and many were killed – now they’re using flash mobs with Water Guns in an attempt to appear peaceful in order to grow support from one another to rid Iran of a brutal Islamic Dictator.
Take notes America – we may one day have to use flash mobs with water guns to start a movement to rid America from the brutal dictator Obama.
Report Post »johnj1952
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:57pmHaving any fun is not the muslim way. Cut their hands off. Then stone them. then rape the women and have all the men turn around so they are not witness’s. Then kill them. and ….. a….blame the west for it!
Report Post »Wojciech W.
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:10pmRight On Comrade! We shall teach these insolent dogs respect … unless/until they use real weapons … and blame the west for that too!
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:20pmAll of the Assyrians (Christians) and Persians are about to do some overthrowing.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:07pmThese Clerics sure are a buzz kill. Whats next Wet Dream Police?
Report Post »chubbzbar
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:03pm“Sometimes, we make it too hard for people and constrict them, so they react,” he said. “We have to make people comfortable.”
Report Post »Sounds like something the Dems believe in — are they related to the Iranian clerics?
TH30PH1LUS
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:58amSharia law – chewing it’s way through England, and coming to a town near you.
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:54amCaptain Feathersword to the rescue!
Report Post »ElChupaCabraDeUSA
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:32amIf the squirt guns were filled with holy water would the Ayatollahs melt if sprayed upon? Perhaps they are war gaming.
Report Post »geomann
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:59amWe certainly can’t have people just having fun in the streets without regard to tradition, now can we? This shows the need for sharia law in the USA. Think of how prevalent water gun fights have become in this country.
If we don’t put a stop to it now we might have “wet birka” contests popping up!
Report Post »Bum thrower
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:29amCheck out New York; water gun my ass; most likely 9mm’s and .40′s….
See the difference ‘gun control’ makes!!
Report Post »jmmjr49er
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:48amGood for Iran! Rise up!
Report Post »randy
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:35amWater Guns do not wet people! Water Wets people!
Report Post »Darn those pesky Iranians!
loriann12
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:57amWell, you know it could be a hazard….what if one of those heavy black burkas gets soaked and gets too heavy for the woman to follow 10 paces behind her man? What if someone has on something thin, and it’s suddenly a wet t-shirt contest? My, my, the possibilities fun can have.
Report Post »AnAmerican111
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:32amSound like the Liberal-Union mobs are infiltrating into Iran!
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:32amWow, being muslim must really suck….. What’s next, women exposing an ankle in public? Oh, the horror!!!
Report Post »Pujols
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:52amAre the Women going Bra-less? Even if they were, you can’t have fun in Iran.
OBAMA DIDN’T HELP THOSE PEOPLE WHEN THEIR GOV. WAS RUNNING OVER THEM?
WHY EYGPT & LIBIA but NOT IRAN? Because Iran is where Obama wants them.
Report Post »ComeAndTakeThis
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:26amThere is nothing to fear but fear of a water fight. If this sort of thing continues, next the women will want to hold hands with the men or some other ungodly though will run willy nilly through these young peoples minds. In the name of Allah behead these deamons before they destroy our laws and religion.
Report Post »DanWesson455
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:25amThe should pee in all those water guns and hose down every Iman.
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:18amDon’t take this the wrong way Blaze, I do appreciate and want the unbiased news that you provide, However, the stories here are poorly written. My 14 year old grand daughter points this out to me constantly. The only conclusion I can come to is you must be using uneducated journalists, you know, college graduates.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:56amThese stories are all copied directly from the AP. Another poster said it best in another article when he commented that he does not understand why The Blaze feels we need to come to a right leaning site to get our liberal inspired news articles that come directly from the AP wire…
Now…In fairness to The Blaze, the blog articles are written by the staff and they have opened up the comments option on these stories. I hope they envision reaching a point where the majority of the stories are Blaze staff picked and written and the wire stories are secondary. I think this may be where they are headed.
Report Post »ropati
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:15amFun is absolutely prohibited in Iran.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:18amHmm….maybe some of them are using holy water in their toy guns….I’ve heard that will painfully burn a Muslim upon contact.
Report Post »Stu Cozza
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:52amThey should use soapy water in some of the water guns, and then use plain water in other water guns.
Report Post »alina.bolero
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:07amAllah is not pleased by their mere simulated Jihad with fake guns! Islam has no room for such things. They must be stoned to death for their immoral behavior and blasphemy against the will of Allah!
Oh … wait … better yet … how ’bout a simulated stoning of the regime with WATER BALLOONS! Woohoo!
Report Post »chazman
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:30am… how about a REAL stoning of the regime with FROZEN water balloons?
Report Post »Nathan
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:52amFlashmob paintball!!
Report Post »Stand_up_and_fight
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 5:47pmPaintballs filled with pig fat. Just a suggestion.
Report Post »Truth and Justice
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:49amThe regime would rather see them with real guns in their hands!!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:46amSounds like there may be another uprising shortly in the nation of Iran; I wonder if this time Mr Obama will support their move for true freedoms or will just ignore them as he did the last one.
Probably just ignore it and condemn thousands to their deaths.
Report Post »ElaineA
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:46amCan you say “test run”?
Report Post »one years food ration like glenn says
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:42amI hate to say it, and I know they are just having fun but If the U.S. would not tolerate the stupid things that people do here and arrested anyone that does said stupid things, we would be a much more obedient country..I know I know i‘m going to hear all the free speech mumbo but that’s my thought..
Report Post »PoliticalJunkieToo
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:49amPeople should be ALLOWED to do stupid things. A water or dance “flash mob” as long as it doesn’t stop/block other people from getting to where they need to go is just good fun.
The mostly black flash mobs (with a few mixed race flash mobs) we have in the USA that loot/kill/main people should not be tolerated.
Report Post »Gary Fishaholic
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:29amWhat do you mean by more obedient to who?
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:40amGood grief! Who would want to live in Iran? Those poor kids. No wonder they grow up crazy.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:57amHahahahaha! Yup
Report Post »TheBMT
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:18amNot all Iranians are crazy.
But this could be the start of something which worries the Iran regime. It all depends on what kind of message these kids are getting. Are they getting a socialist message or a Liberty message?
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