Unrest in northeast Iranian city
TEHRAN, Feb 18 (AFP) - Riot police have clashed with groups of youths
in Jajarm in northeastern Iran over a decision to merge the town with another
nearby locality, newspapers here reported Thursday.
The Tehran press reports, which were confirmed by a number of residents
of Jajarm, said there had been "isolated clashes" in neighborhoods
in the town of some 15,000 people over the past two days.
According to the papers, a number of public buildings and banks were
sacked in Jajarm, located in the Bojnurd region of Khorasan province.
The unrest follows a decision by the interior ministry to amalgamate
Jajarm with a smaller town, Garmeh, located some nine kilometers (five
miles) to the west, said a teacher in Jajarm who did not want to be identified.
"The town is in a state of siege," the teacher said. "The
anti-riot forces are everywhere and the bazaar and schools are closed."
The teacher said that "all of the 33 candidates in the town for
the (February 26) municipal elections have resigned to protest the interior
ministry's decision" to form a single municipal council for Jajarm
and Garmeh.
The unrest is the first reported ahead of the February 26 municipal
council elections, the first in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Some 300,000 candidates, including 5,000 women, are running for some
200,000 muncipal council seats across the country.
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