Sat, January 03, 2009
TEHRAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian demonstrators started a rally against Israel's Gaza raid after Friday prayers in the afternoon in Tehran.
Among the hundreds of the demonstrators, there were some high ranking Iranian officials, including Vice President Parviz Davoodi, who made their way to the Palestine Square in Tehran.
They were carrying the images of some Iranian leaders along with the Lebanese Hezbollah leader.
The demonstrators were uninterruptedly chanting slogans to support the Gaza resistance and condemn the silence of some Arab leaders, according to Iranian Students news agency (ISNA).
"Shelling and bombing no more workable," "Zion knows nothing about Gaza might," "Zion knows nothing about Lebanon's might," "Death with the United States," and "Death with Israel" were among the protesters' slogans, according to ISNA.
The statement released at the end of the rally called for the unity of Muslim Ummah (community) against Israel and said that "the continuation of the silence of some Arab leaders (concerning Gaza issue) is condemned."
It also stressed that Iranians would be by the side of the resistance in Gaza.
During the rally, donation boxes were set up to collect the monetary donations of the participants.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree saying that "whoever fights for Gaza today and killed is a martyr."
The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was under intensive Israeli air strikes for the seventh successive day on Friday.
Since last Saturday, massive air raids on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has killed more than 400 Palestinians and injured near 2000 others.
Israel said the offensive was aimed at halting nearly daily cross-border rocket attacks by the Palestinian militants.
Hamas is strongly backed by Iran which does not recognize Israel as a state of the international community.
