Iranian footballers show support for Mousavi

[kpete]

Source: Y Net News

Iranian footballers show support for Mousavi

World Cup qualifier in South Korea turns into anti-government protest on part of Islamic republic's national team players, who wear green wristbands to show their support for defeated presidential candidate

Dudi Cohen
Published: 06.17.09, 16:30 / Israel News

Members of Iran's national football team staged a protest against their government during a World Cup qualifier Wednesday by wearing green wristbands showing their support for the reformist camp led by Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Iranian bloggers estimated later that Ali Abadi, chairman of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI), who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had telephoned Seoul during half time and instructed the players to remove the green wristbands immediately. Some of the players, however, did not obey.

The team suffered a different kind of blow with the South Korean team's equalizer just before the end of the match, which badly harmed their chances of taking part in the World Cup next summer.

Iranians in Seoul are taking advantage of a World Cup football qualifier to denounce their government amid allegations of election rigging at home.

Read more: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3732987,00.html

---

http://twitpic.com/7m4em
pic via:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/17/iran-footballers-wear-green/

[Warpy]

1. According to the boards, some cops are also sporting green

and people are sensing something different in the air.

Let's hope they're right.

Too many have been injured or killed in this thing. The government has lost and I think they probably know it. Whether or not Khamenei is finally ousted, they'll have to do some cosmetic reforms, at the very least.

[regnaD kciN]

2. They're now saying the green armbands were a religious, not political, symbol...

...green being the color of Islam.

As someone on HuffPost commented, it's the perfect way to show dissent, just like if antiwar protesters in the U.S. had chosen red, white, and blue as their colors. No one could call them unpatriotic, because they'd simply say they were using America's national colors.

[asphalt.jungle]

3. video from the bbc

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8105722.stm