Tehran, Iran – Demonstrations have been held across Iran to denounce the United States and Israel and to mark the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran as Israel bombards the Gaza Strip.
Saturday marked the 13th day of the Iranian month of Aban, the day the US embassy was stormed by young revolutionaries shortly after the country’s 1979 revolution, which birthed the current theocratic establishment in Iran.
The November 4, 1979, takeover, which took place after the fall of Iran’s US-backed monarch, lasted 444 days, and 52 Americans were held captive. The site of the US embassy is now accessible to the public as a representation of what Iranian officials call a “den of spies”.
This day on the Iranian calendar is also known as Students Day and the National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance.
Demonstrators, some of whom were children, started marching in Tehran about 9am (12:30pm GMT) from Palestine Square in the downtown area to the site of the former US embassy a few kilometres away.
State television showed people holding Palestinian flags and others burning Israeli, US and United Kingdom flags. In some places, the US and Israeli flags were put on the ground, so demonstrators could walk over them.
Original from www.aljazeera.com