By Saber Nickbin and Brian Grogan, Tehran.
TEHRAN has been liberated.
Apart from small pockets of resistance by troops loyal to the Pahlavi dictatorship, the entire city is in the hands of Ine masses alter LAST WCCKCIOS The government been toppled provisional revolunionary vernment headed by meini's, nominee, Bazargan, has claimed.
The insurrection began with a mutiny of homafars, airforce technicians, Dowshan Tappeh airbase on the eastern outskirts of Tehran on Friday CYCLES.
Elite units of the Imperial Guard were sent to the airbase to crush the rebels. News of the mutiny spread throughout the city.
*The homafars have mutinied in Dowshan Tappeh. They are being attacked by those Imperial Guard murderers. We must go and help courageous brothers the homafars!"
Thousands of demonstrators began gathering on the streets shouting, live courageous and militant homafars! Death to the Immortal Guards!' By Saturday morning thousands of armed and unarmed civilians mainly working class districts of south eastern Tehran had arrived at Dowshan appen to the rebels against the Imperial The homafars broke into the airbase arsenal and handed out thousands of weapons to their civilian supporters. They set up sanavag barricades and soon a full scale battle had developed.
The insurrection had begun! Fighting spread to other parts of the city. The Imperial Guards were driven away from Dowshan Tappeh and number of their Chieftain tanks captured and destroyed.
On Saturday afternoon the army tried in vain to impose another crackdown by declaring a curfew from 4.30pm on Saturdav until 12 noon Sunday.
Instead of returning to their millions throughout the city came out did not try to impose the curfew but disappeared SUCCEs All night there was frantic activity throughout the city. In every district inhabitants began setting up barricades, sandbags and weapons and ammunition.
By Sunday were ready for the final assauit. Detachments or what nad go- now become known as the Peoples Armed Forces Mehdi Mojahedeen and guerrillas began ponce stanons, army Darracks and other important locations. The army generals realised the hopelessness position and broadcast statements on the radio that thes were taking a 'neutral' position and had ordered their troops back to barracks: 'Up now the wildfire Forces have supported the legal government. But in the present situation we feel obliged to take a neutral position in the interest of national unity and prevention of further bloodshed. our They had realised further confrontation with the armed masses would lead to a total disintegration of the army and had decided the Bakhtiar.
For the masses on the streets the generals statement was a signal to intensify their armed dusk stations, the the the paramilitary gendarmerie, a number of army barracks, the Darnalent prime support ster's office, one of the Shah's palaces and many important buildings were in the hands of the masses.
Thousands of soldiers had been captured or had surrendered and MOUsanes weapons distributed amongst civilians. At most of the army barracks demoralised from the filling distributing they and Fadayee assaulting of their Armed that to ditch all police headquarters of miniother and easily people with and tens DISORICES television occupied months.
Iran, tion."
workers our radio station,' they television station in the one or the cooperated them to return.' then programme unarmed civilians.
are • immediately supplies...
and such district. him... army-controlled installations.
The city's main prisons fell of thousands • were released At about 6pm, the state radio and stations were cap tured from the soldiers who had them for several The radio programme was suddenly interrupted and proud voice declared:
*This is the People's Radio of Voice of the Revolution. The We have liberated the radio station from military occupaThe same voice continued to give instructions to armed units move to districts where reinforcements were needed. Striking radio and television quickly returned to start running the stations.
We thank you for liberating and television declared to the masses on the air. It is now the true radio of the people, the voice of the revolution.
'Once we manage to get the working will broadcast a film showing how the soldiers fled from the radio face of our that courageous fighters.
"You should also know that by the time we arrived all but seabs who had ances with the military had fled. We will never allow units The Voice of the Revolution continued of revolutionary songs and music, interrupted from time to time with news bulletins about the fighting and instructions to units of the * Peoples Armed Forces and various requests of help from in the *Surgeons and anaesthetists are badly needed at such and such hospital...Blood donors required in tanks of the former dictator. ship are moving towards your radio station. We call on units of the Mojadeen and Fadayee guerrillas and other armed revolutionaries in the vicinity to come and defend the radio station..
*Revolutionary brothers and sisters we know that you feel like celebrating your victories but please don't fire weapons aimlessly in the air.
hasn't been completely defeated yet and we may still need those bullets..' On Sunday evening Kho meini broadcast a message to the people. He warned that the struggle is still not over and they must continue to be on their guard against the enemy.
urged everyone support and obey his provi sional Islamic government. But his main message was that peace and calm' should quickly be restored and that private and public property should be respected.
Khomeini's speech was soon Blared a roduce each tre Bazargan, introduced Prime Minister of Iran. He said the declaration by the armed forces that they would remain 'neutral" and assurloyalty his government by the army chief of staff were a great victory for the people and called on armed to immediately cease attacks on the army.
'As Immam Khomeini has said, the army are of the people and the people of the army. We treat them as our brothers.
The Fadayee guerrillas seem to have played a prominent role insurrection. with the Moslem Mojahedeen guerillas they now control most of the armed units.
In contrast to Bazargan's line of compromise their message on the radio said that the remnants of the Shah's army must be destroyed and replaced by a people's army.
Meanwhile in the streets the armed masses don't seem to have taken much notice of Bazargan's pleas. They have too many of their comrades slaughtered by the Shah's army to believe that it is now 'neutral'.
They are continuing their assaults on army installations and occupying other government buildings.
Socialist Challenge 15 February 1979 page 3