By Jill Sergeant

 

 

LOS ANGELES, Jun 18 (Reuters) - U.S.-based Iranian opposition groups urged expatriates to boycott Iran's presidential election on Friday and flooded hotels hosting secretive voting stations with protest calls.

As extended polls officially closed in Iran, activists in Southern California -- home to the world's largest Iranian expatriate community -- staged demonstrations and went on local Iranian radio and TV stations to denounce the election as a sham.

"This year, more than ever, there is a moral duty and an urgency to protest against clerics' new demagoguery," said an appeal put out by the U.S.-based "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran".

In Europe, Iranians trickled to vote amid apathy, protests and calls for a boycott by exile groups. Doubts about the fairness of the election and its ability to alter anything deterred many from voting and prompted street protests in Germany and Sweden.

Some 3 million Iranians live outside Iran, more than one-third of them in the United States -- some 500,000 in the Los Angeles area alone. Several hundred thousand live in Europe.

Iran, which has no diplomatic relations with the United States, arranged for voting to take place in 33 U.S. cities. But several of the hotel locations were not announced on its official Web site until late on Thursday, making it difficult for the small minority who wanted to cast ballots.

Activists staged small but noisy demonstrations outside two hotels in Los Angeles suburb of Commerce and in Irvine, 25 miles (40 km) south of the city.

"We have had people calling us expressing their concerns about what is going on here," said Noe Cruz, duty manager at the Plaza hotel in Commerce.

In Irvine, Marriott hotel staff reported receiving thousands of protest calls but said several dozen people turned up to cast their ballot.

There were no reports of violence. (*) The Iranian interests section in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.

TV POLL

National Iranian Television, one of more than 20 Iranian TV stations based in Los Angeles, ran a yes/no poll on the Islamic Republic on its Web site. By noon, 5,800 viewers had responded: 96 percent said no and 4 percent said yes.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, which wants to oust Iran's clerical rulers and is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, said that based on supporters' reports, less than 10 percent of eligible voters inside Iran had taken part in the election.

Iman Foroutan, a Los Angeles opposition activist, said that judging by the calls and e-mails received by his group's TV station, the boycott had been widely heeded in Iran.
"Everybody is staying at home. The polls have been dead," Foroutan told Reuters.

In Europe, some Iranians were thrilled to be able to vote at all.

"It's a good feeling," Nader Alizadeh, 41, said at the Iranian Embassy in Berlin. "It feels a bit strange to vote for the first time though. I decided to vote this time because I think Iran is at a very important crossroads. I think this election is the start of a hopeful development
for Iran."

Nasrin B., 55, decided to vote for the first time in more than 25 years after reading reports that U.S. President George W. Bush had criticized the election as an unfair travesty.
"My main motivation is that Bush shouldn't decide whether Iranians vote or not," she said in Berlin.

Voting was slow in Paris but there were no turnout figures.

In Berlin, only about 300 of the estimated 5,000 Iranian expatriates in the city had cast their ballots by midafternoon, according to an Iranian Embassy official.

Across the street from the Berlin embassy, about 50 Iranian expatriates held a rally against torture and capital punishment in Iran, while in Frankfurt about 100 monarchists demonstrated opposite the Iranian mission.

In Sweden, home to 80,000 Iranian exiles, about 50 protesters blocked the road outside the embassy in Stockholm to try to stop voters getting through. 


(*) SMCCDI Note: A violent clash happened later and after this Reuters reporting. Several activists including the SMCCDI Coordinator were wounded by Islamic agents and their mercenaries. They were admitted to Beverly Hospital.

The clash has been documented by the Sheriff Department, LAPD and FBI.

The illegal ballot box was shut down.

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