Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, hailed the popular uprising in East and West Azerbaijan and Zanjan provinces and described it as an expression of the nation's will for the overthrow of the clerical regime in Tehran. She called upon all Iranian people, specially the youth, to join the heroic popular uprising of the Azerbaijani people.

An insulting cartoon published in a government run paper sparked the uprising by people in the cities of Zanjan, Tabriz and Uroumieh. Many government buildings and centers and state-owned banks were torched in the demonstrations.

Demonstrations erupted in Tabriz yesterday, simultaneously by students and bazaar merchants on two sides of the city and merged into one huge anti-regime demonstration. People shouted anti-government slogans and were met by suppressive State Security Force units who fired tear gas and charged the demonstrators with batons and beat them. Many demonstrators were arrested.

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