Tehran and the Religious Militia
We rode into Tehran. The atmosphere on the way in seemed charged, but not necessarily negative. There were families in cars, waving at us, and kids on scooters wooping. The traffic was completely insane. One of our exits had been blocked off with barricades. We got very lost, and ended up in the centre of town. The atmosphere got stronger, it felt like the air was buzzing. Then we saw why- the main square was entirely filled with army and policemen of various different types, in varying uniforms, but all with alarmingly large weapons. There were huge black armoured trucks filled with militia-men dressed from head to toe in black, with enormous black beards, black turbans, holding gigantic black machine guns. They would have done a Finnish death metal band proud. I didn’t look them in the eyes, but Adam said later they were glowering at us. We saw ‘Voluntary Militia’- civvies dressed up for the occasion in fluro-vests with POLICE written across...