Iranians feel insulted, expatriate says

Dubai: Dubai resident Ehsan, a 36-year-old Iranian who works as an IT consultant, went to Iran to attend a wedding, but he did not expect to be chased down the streets of Tehran by riot police and special forces.

As the chaos that erupted in the streets of Tehran makes headlines, Gulf News spoke to Ehsan who described the situation on the ground as emotionally taxing.

Ehsan left Iran 13 years ago, in search of a life of more freedom and has been an outspoken critic of the current government of Iran, under the leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"People were scared on the first day of riots, but their numbers grew on the second day, I could guess about 1 million people filled the streets. They aren't afraid any more, they are just more and more angry," he said.

Ehsan said that while Iranians are used to certain levels of cheating in the elections, that what happened this time set a "new standard".

"People are simply insulted at this point," he said.

Demonstrators held up signs saying "I wrote Mousavi, you read Ahmadinejad" and chanted "where is my vote?"

Ehsan said he was surprised to see that nearly half of the people in the streets were women.

"I saw an old woman get beaten by the police," he said.

"They came after me, but I ran to my building and closed my door."

Ehsan said many people were keeping their doors unlocked - much like during the 1979 Islamic revolution - so when they are chased by the police they can easily get inside and lock the door behind them.

"People that are afraid to join in on the streets have turned off their lights in the apartments and opened their windows, shouting "Allahu Akbar".

''I asked the police officer who was trying to keep order, why were the police acting this way? We are both Iranians. We are brothers. It was then when he pulled out a green piece of paper from his pocket which meant he was himself a Mousavi supporter," Ehsan said.

SMS messages have not been working for five days and during protests, mobile phones are completely shut down, according to Ehsan. During the protests, Iranian national TV was airing a cooking show.

Ehsan said he feels a part of a true revolution and doubted that the riots would subside. He said there were already messages floating around of planned demonstrations in the coming days. "I think Khamenei is getting nervous," he said.

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called for an investigation into the results after he came out and declared Ahmadinejad as the victor, without waiting for the Guardian Council, which is against the Iranian constitution.

Ehsan said that he hopes one day Iran would be on a better standing with the rest of the world and be a place where people are allowed to think freely.