Several prominent footballers sided with the protesters.
Players of the Iranian national team at the World Cup in Qatar (Photo: GettyImages, Amir kheirkhah)
The police in Iran briefly arrested several senior soccer players in a raid on a mixed New Year's Eve party between men and women where alcohol was also served - this was reported by the country's media today (Sunday).
The laws of the Islamic Republic forbid unmarried men and women from publicly arousing and consuming alcohol, and these laws were among the factors that led to the outbreak of protests in recent months.
The Tasnim news agency reported that among those arrested at the party held east of the capital were past and present players of a senior team in Tehran, without identifying the names of the players or the team.
"Some of the players were in an abnormal state due to alcohol consumption," said the report, which did not elaborate beyond that.
The YJC news agency reported that it was a birthday party and that all those arrested were released except for one person, who is not a football player.
The Fars news agency quoted the lawsuit, which said that charges had been filed against the detainees and that it would provide more details later.
Several former and current footballers, as well as other athletes, have sided with the protesters who have flooded the streets of Iran since the September 16 death in custody of the Kurdish teenager Mehsa Amini, who was accused of violating the women's dress code.
Several of them were arrested or questioned by the authorities, and the family of Ali Dai, one of Iran's greatest footballers of all time, was taken off a flight that was on its way to Dubai.
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