Karroubi urges his supporters to avoid violence

Mehdi Karroubi

Mehdi Karroubi, the disputing candidate of Iran’s June presidential elections urged Iranian youth to stop “sick people” from leading them into violent behaviour.

According to Mehdi Karroubi, government agents have been sent amongst protesters to incite violence and give security forces an excuse to attack people’s gatherings.

There have been reports from some of Iran’s cities that during the November 4th street protests against the alleged fraudulent presidential elections that secured Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, some violence erupted in the protesters confrontations with security forces.

Opposition leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and MirHosein Mousavi defended the public’s reaction to the systematic violence exerted by government forces; however, the two leaders have been trying to keep the post-election protests a peaceful legal protest within the framework of the Islamic Republic.

Mehdi Karroubi, who has been physically attacked on several occasions for his support of post-election detainees, condemned government’s forceful pressures on protesters but urged his supporters not to give in to provocations to join the violence.