Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - February 11, 2000 - Participation in the Bahman 22 (February 11) Rally: It Seemed That Fewer People Attended Compared to Previous Years

Participation in the Bahman 22 Rally / It seemed that fewer people attended compared to previous years / Strong slogans against Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ataollah Mohajerani, in several cities during the rally

For participation in the Bahman 22 rally, we went to Azadi Street with the Pasdaran [Revolutionary Guards]. I walked among the people for about 15 minutes and responded to their greetings. The ground was littered with election flyers from candidates for the [Sixth Parliamentary Elections], which created an unpleasant scene. Some were distributing campaign flyers to the crowd, but many people immediately discarded them on the ground.

It seemed to me that fewer people attended this year compared to previous years. The Pasdaran confirmed this, but Fatemeh and Yasser, who went into the crowd near Azadi Square, said it was no different from previous years. They had brought back many samples of campaign materials and group candidate lists.

I spent the rest of the day at home studying. I worked on the history of the three islands [Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs] and revised the indices for Tafsir-e Rahnama [Guide Interpretation]. Part of the time was also spent organizing my works.

In several cities, during the rallies, there were strong slogans against [Ataollah Mohajerani], the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and in some cities like Qom, Ardabil, and Torbat Heydariyeh, clashes broke out between two groups.

Some Friday prayer leaders also criticized the government's cultural policies and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance's handling of the press. After participating in the rally, Effat [Hashemi's wife] went to the election campaign headquarters of Fa'ezeh [Hashemi's daughter] and spoke about the extensive work Fa'ezeh had done and her services to the people during her time as a representative.