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Protesters Decry Ahmadinejad, Gadhafi At U.N. Conference
Thousands of protesters descended on the area near the United Nations on Wednesday, shouting their condemnation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just hours before his scheduled speech before the General Assembly.
Other protesters gathered near the U.N. building to decry the presence of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who spoke earlier in the day.
More than 400 protesters marched in front of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ahmadinejad has to to go.”
They later joined thousands of others at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across the street from the United Nations complex, where they mixed up those chants with accusations that the June 12 Iran presidential election was a fraud.
They yelled: “63 percent, 63 percent, where is your 63 percent?”
Iranian election officials had reported that Ahmadinejad had won about 63 percent of the vote.
Some protesters expressed further animosity for the leader by carrying pictures of Ahmadinejad’s face with a large red X stamped across it.
“Murderer at the United Nations” and “Free the political prisoners in Iran” read some of the banners.
Gadhafi spoke earlier Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual session, and Ahmadinejad was scheduled for later Wednesday evening.
“I am very angry,” said Anna Amiri, an Iranian émigré who traveled from Dallas, Texas, to attend the rally, which was about seven blocks from the United Nations.
“We voted for Moussavi to have a change,” she said, referring to Mir Hossein Moussavi, who lost Iran’s disputed election.
Amiri held a picture of Neda, a young woman whose killing at a political rally was captured on video and seen around the world.
She said Iranian government security forces attacked her sister at a recent rally in Tehran, forcing her to seek treatment at a hospital.
Others, including Libyan expatriates and relatives of victims of Pan Am Flight 103 — which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988 — gathered near the United Nations to protest Gadhafi’s appearance ahead of his speech.
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