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Iran Focus
 Tehran, Iran, Dec. 02 – Iran’s para-military Bassij force
began a three-day military exercise in the city of Karaj,
west of Tehran, in what residents described as an attempt by the government
to instil a reign of fear.
In an email to Iran Focus, a resident from the sprawling city of more than
a million inhabitants said that thousands of Islamist vigilantes brought
into the city to take part in the war games are
intimidating the local population.
All main routes in and out of the city have been cordoned off and
checkpoints have been set up across the city. Vehicles are searched for
illegal goods that include alcohol, unauthorized books and compact discs,
as well as satellite dishes.
The vigilantes are members of the Bassij, a
branch of Iran’s
elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that was given police
powers earlier this year. The vigilantes have gained notoriety since the
early days of the 1979 Islamic revolution for acting as the theocratic
regime’s “shook troops” to quell anti-government protests.
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