Iran: Rage Against Pre-Islamic Statues

It seems that even statues are not safe in Iran. Religious motives appear to be behind the recent theft of several bronze statues of Iranian national heroes from public places.

In the northern city Sari, authorities ordered the destruction of 16 bronze statutes depicting the Iranian mythological hero and archer Arash Kamangir on chariots and with horses.
The official reason was ostensibly that the horses on Imam Square could be interpreted as insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomenei.

Kamangir is said to have infused his own life into his arrow, and used it to expand the borders of Iran. The statues have decorated the public squares in Sari since 1975.
Azarmehr writes that more statues are being targeted these days, as Iranian authorities pursue their rage against Iran's pre-Islamic history. He says: Since the 1979 Islamic revolution however, the Islamic Republic has been hell bent on its anti-Iranian agenda. The regime fears all symbols of pre-Islamic Iran. In recent weeks, this anti-Iranian agenda has manifested itself in removing wall paintings that depicted the Epic stories of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) in Mashad, the removal of the statues of another Iranian legendary figure, Arash in Sari and now they want to remove the statue of Ariobarzanes in Yassuj.
Kiasar quotes Abdulhossein Mokhtabad, an artist from Sari, who says these statues belong to our people and we have to protect them.

For the Sari riders at least, it is sadly too late.

Source: GLOBAL VOICES