Holy city under Islamic rule

Press, 22 January 1979, Page 8

Holy city under Islamic rule

By PATRICK MENEY, of, Agence France-Presse, through NZPA ! Qom (Iran). ■ The Islamic holy city of. Qom has been under total ■ Islamic rule since Friday. j Until Thursday, thej militarv were in full control. of the'city keeping a close j watch even on visitors of Ayatollah Shariat Madan. who now seems to be the new master in town. „ „„„ But on Friday, 500,000 people defied martial law 1 to demand an “Islamic republic” as advocated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, the exiled spiritual leader of Iran s anti-Shah opposition. Portraits of Ayatollah Khomeiny, who left Qom ’or exile in 1963, are seen everywhere, all over buildings, on knocked-do .vn| statues of the Shah, as well, as in hotel halls, banks, and I post offices, where they! (have replaced photos of the, j Shah. i i This correspondent — a ! Frenchman — was carried (shoulder high for half an hour on Saturday along Qom’s main street by a cheering crowd because as one man put it “France gives asylum to our guide, Ayatollah Khomeiny.” Earlier the same

u correspondent and an Italian , j fellow journalist were (harassed by the same [crowd which thought they were Americans. ! In theory, the city is [under martial law and -i gatherings. of-, more than ■ three people are banned. Yet [troops and tanks have been [virtually nowhere to be seen j since Friday and traffic is being directed by “Islamic republic’s police.” Members of this police force — civilians wearing i laminated badges printed byreligious authorities — are r maintaining Order at petrol stations where lines extend for kilometres. They also led the crowd which carried this correspondent in triumph throughout the city’s streets while a sentry, in his ■ box covered with photos of ; Ayatollah Khomeiny, smiled. ■ In Qom, women wear the chador, a traditional head [covering, from the age of [ three, alcohol is banned, and [even watches are set on i Islamic time. When asked to define the “Islamic republic,” a woman replied: “We don’t really ( know. During the past 25 ; years of dictatorship, it was ■ forbidden to speak about It, But we trust our religious leaders because they represent God on Earth.”