July 21, 1952
Hundreds Seized in Iranian Rioting Over Ghavam Rule
By ALBION ROSS
EHERAN, Iran, July 20 -- Clashes with soldiers and police, demonstrations and agitation continued today in Teheran and many other Iranian cities and towns as large numbers of partisans of the uncompromising anti-British policy of Mohammed Mossadegh demanded that he be made Premier again in place of Ahmad Ghavam, whom the agitators called a "servant of the British."
Estimates of the number of injured and arrested varied greatly. The usually responsible newspaper Ettelaat put the number of arrested at 624 up to 2 P.M. today and the number of wounded at 110. The pro-Mossadegh press said sixty had been killed at Abadan. Other estimates varied between these figures.
A number of seriously injured were hospitalized in Teheran after a clash with soldiers near the covered bazaar. A member of the Moslem Combatant group was killed by a bayonet thrust. Clashes were still going on late this evening in the principal streets of the city.
Assurances Ineffective
Ahmad Ghavam's assurances, given Friday after his appointment Thursday night as Premier and again yesterday, that he supports the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry had apparently not calmed the crowds. They are being kept in a constant fever by a systematic campaign directed by thirty pro-Mossadegh Deputies in Parliament, by the ultra-nationalist Moslem leader, Ayatollah Kashani, and by three small National Front parties-- Kashani's Moslem Combatants, the Iranian Workers party and the Iran party--and members of the Fascist Pan-Iranian group.
The Communist Tudeh organization is clamorously offering its alliance to Dr. Mossadegh and the National Front for a common fight against "imperialism." The Communists were insisting, however, that the National Front must come out also against "American imperialists," to drive out United States military advisers and "Point Four spies."
Many areas of Teheran were cordoned off and tanks and armored cars stood guard. Troops surrounded the crowds and systematically broke them up, but the demonstrations and the movements of groups of 100 or 200 persons shouting "Death to Ghavam" and "Death or Mossadegh" continued. Eighty-four men were brought before the military tribunal for inciting the people. Like most cities of Iran, Teheran has been under martial law.
Business Is Impeded
Business, except for grocery stores and other small shops, has virtually ceased in Teheran and many other towns and cities.
The National Front is attempting to organize a general strike in Teheran for tomorrow and issued a summons for "all Iranians" to get on their roofs Tuesday and cry out like the muezzins of the mosques and beat gongs and pans.
Twenty truckloads of soldiers were sent yesterday to the town of Resht, on the Caspian Sea, to quell riots and demonstrations. A report from Resht said a throng had assembled in a mosque and that the demonstrators, taking off their shirts, had entered the main square shouting: "Death or Mossadegh" and yelling at the soldiers: "Pierce our breasts with your bayonets."
A report from the town of Kazvin said thirty trucks had arrived there from the western town of Kermanshah filled with demonstrators en route to Teheran. Some of the demonstrators were wearing shrouds to symbolize the death of Iran through the influence of foreigners. They were joined by other truckloads of Mossadegh partisans from the Kazvin district.
Reports from Abadan said that yesterday some tens of thousands of persons demonstrated there for the National Front and against any compromise on the oil issue. Security forces, according to the report, were overrun and throngs gathered around a telegraph office where telegrams were sent demanding the dismissal of Premier Ghavam and the re-installation of Dr. Mossadegh.
A general strike was staged in Kulm, Kazvin and a few other towns. The oil industry apparently was on strike, but as the Abadan refinery, as well as the oil fields are virtually idle, the strike was symbolic.
Closing of the bazaars and business centers also was to a great degree symbolic. Because of the financial condition, very little or no business has been transacted.
Thirty Deputies of the eighty-one in the Chamber of Deputies announced in the National Front paper Chahed that they would introduce in the chamber a bill to prohibit the re-engagement of British technicians under any title or in any form in the Iranian petroleum industry. The bill would also provide that premiers and ministers who "entered into negotiations with governments or with any type of international enterprise or signed any agreements with them" concerning oil would be subject to a penalty of ten years at forced labor and loss of their civil rights for life.
A spokesman of the British Embassy here, commenting on Premier Ghavam's declaration that it was necessary to get the oil industry going again expressed satisfaction with the Premier's desire to reopen the question and Britain's readiness at all times to negotiate.
The Briton commented that the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had almost entirely made up from other sources the loss of crude oil occasioned by the company expulsion from Iran and that within the year it would make up for the loss of refining capacity resulting from the nationalization of the Abadan refinery, the largest in the world. He indicated a slight doubt that the Anglo-Iranian thought it wise to return to Iranian sources of crude oil or refined products unless it had very considerable guarantees.