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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas M. who wrote (7463)	10/22/2001 4:12:07 PM
From: Ben Wa	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

-- UPDATE 1-Iran soccer fans riot, businesses count cost -- (Adds fresh unrest, paragraphs 3-4, FIFA ruling, 7) TEHRAN, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces detained about 800 people during angry rioting in the capital Tehran after Iran lost a key World Cup soccer qualifying match in Bahrain, a senior official said on Monday. Ali Taali, a security official in Tehran, said 200 of those held after the riots late on Sunday had been released and the remaining 600 were still in custody. On Monday night, small groups of excited youths returned to the streets in an eastern area of Tehran setting off fire crackers and lighting small fires. Witnesses said there were minor confrontations with police and a handful of arrests. They said hundreds of police with batons and Islamic basij militiamen were spread over the capital to deter any repeat of the previous night's unrest. The authorities were assessing the damage from the violence involving attacks on banks and state buildings by hundreds of angry youth, Taali told Iran's student news agency ISNA. The riots erupted after Iran's surprise 1-3 loss to the small Gulf Arab state late on Sunday. The loss robbed Iran of its expected qualification for the World Cup and forced it into playoffs to win a place in the finals. The result will stand after FIFA rejected on Monday Iran's complaint about Bahrain fielding ineligible players. Youths clashed during Sunday night with security forces in several parts of the capital. A restaurant employee in southwest Tehran said youths broke windows as police waited inside for back-up with riot gear. "First they hurled stones, and then they brought a wheelbarrow and smashed the windows with it, and then they started kicking the shards of window that remained," the employee said. Two nearby state banks also had windows broken. DEMONSTRATIONS TURN POLITICAL Witnesses said a group of about 50 hardline basij militiamen wielding large sticks confronted youths neat two squares where windows of banks and government institutions were smashed. Small sporadic clashes occurred in affluent north Tehran. Some fans were angered because of rumours that the Iranian team might have been under pressure to throw the match to avoid a repeat of euphoric clashes 10 days ago when Iran beat Iraq in a qualifying match and looked set to reach the World Cup finals. Demonstrations after football matches often turn political in Iran, with fans chanting slogans against the state. Exiled opposition groups had called for protets after Sunday's match but officials said the riots were not political. "Some people are trying to give every event a political colour, but what happened after the game with Bahrain was a social phenomenon which needs to be addressed," Ebrahim Rezaei-Babadi, Tehran's deputy governor, told ISNA. Some 350 people were detained after the victory over Iraq when celebrations turned violent and youths stoned shops, banks and public buildings. ((Tehran newsroom, +98 21 229 4856, fax +98 21 228 9917)) nHE2243807 22-Oct-2001 11:38:30 GMT Source RTR - Reuters News Service