Tension in Iran is on simmer as Iran releases 5 of 9 UK embassy employees

Man is beaten outside mosque June 28, police outnumber him 25 to 1

Police crack down with violence on any public demonstrations

Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 29, 2009 with story from BBC and LiveLeak

Over the weekend Iranian police detained 9 employees of the British Embassy in Tehran claiming they were instigators or involved in the post-election riots. Blaming the West while cracking down on dissent is the containment policy of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad government. The five released employees were questioned and the remaining 4 Iranian nationals are still under interrogation.

“Out of nine people, five of them have been released and the rest are being interrogated,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said at a news conference, state television Press TV reported.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hoseyn Mohseni-Ezhei on Sunday said “the British embassy played a crucial role in the recent unrest both through its local staff and via media”, Iran’s Irna news agency reported.

“We have photos and videos of certain local employees of the British embassy, who collected news about the protests.

“The embassy sent staff among the rioters to direct them in order to escalate the riots so that the rioters could file fabricated reports about the [rallies] to the world from various locations,” the Iranian minister added. BBC News

Meanwhile the police and dreaded Basij are cracking down on any gatherings or protest. A group of 5,000 met in a mosque to honor a dead cleric. The police beat people and tried to break up the meeting.

“The people filming are cursing the riot police. Just before film is cutout, there is noise of people shouting

The man filming says: the people are attacking, thank God.

5000 people gathered today at a mosque. The protest had nothing to do with Mousavi, but he had called supporters to join as it was a legal gathering that was planned for a cleric killed 28 years ago. It was quickly planned More..and some people who knew, came to show support. rangestorm on LiveLeak”

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