Talk of referendum on Trump meeting goes viral in Iran
The idea of holding referendums in Iran is generating lots of posts on social media, especially a vote on President Hassan Rouhani possibly meeting with Donald Trump, a topic on which the print media is largely steering clear.
“Iran is not your private property. Put talks with the US to a referendum!”
That’s what a hand-held sign says in a photograph that went viral after President Hassan Rouhani touched on Article 59 of the constitution, which allows referendums on deeply divisive issues, in an Aug. 6 televised interview.
The photo was taken outside the French Confectionary, a popular downtown Tehran cafe whose name recognition probably derives less from the cookies it offers than from individual women having chosen it as the site for their symbolic protests against hijab, the mandatory Islamic dress code. Several women have been arrested in the last few years after pictures of them taken outside the cafe without head scarves went viral.
One Twitter user who posted an image of the sign tweeted, “This is how a [Tehran] resident responded to the idea of holding referendums over issues that spark divide among the ruling elite. PS: It seems that outside this cafe is becoming the venue to express opinions over red lines.”
