HRANA News Agency – Yalda celebrations organized by youth groups and social activists in Gorgan, Golestan Province, was cancelled after police and security agents raided the ceremony. Yalda is the Persian Winter Solstice Celebration observed on the longest night of the year.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), more than one hundred young citizens and social and cultural activists from Golestan Province planned Yalda celebrations which was ultimately cancelled after security agents raided the ceremony.
Prior to the celebrations, all the expenses were paid and preparations were made for a modest ceremony planned to be held in the garden of a restaurant. Guests intended to recite poems, read stories and eat dinner.
One of the organizer of Yalda celebrations in Gorgan told HRANA, “This ceremony was not political in nature at all. It was a small and simple gathering to observe Yalda, a thousand-year-old Iranian tradition. Before the celebrations began, police raided the restaurant and threw all the guests out. Then security agents cut off the electricity and prevented us from carrying out the program.”
