The Clash Begins

[Annie]

so far tear gas and water cannons:

Witnesses: police clash with Tehran protesters - Yahoo! News

Witnesses: police clash with Tehran protesters

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writers
11 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Witnesses say police are using tear and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters rallying in Tehran to demand a new presidential election.
Eyewitnesses contacted by The Associated Press say the protesters gathered in central Tehran in open defiance of the cleric-led government.

The witnesses say some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" near Revolution Square in central Tehran. Police confronted them by using tear gas and water cannon.

Witnesses say thousands of police and plainclothes militia members filled the streets to prevent rallies.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders on Friday to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come....

 

[JBeukema]

this could get very ugly

 

[Sunni Man]

We do the same here to protesters

Remember the tear gas and beatings the protesters recieved at the Democratic Comvencion at Chicago in the 60's ???

 

[strollingbones]

is it still time to be mute or do we as a country speak up...as they begin to slaughter their younger generations in the streets....brown has spoken out and now england is the hated one....so now we dont speak out due to fear of being hated..or to let england take the heat or merely to look on...

 

[Sunni Man]

It's their country, laws, culture.

Let them work it out among themselves.

They Do Not need our help. Period

 

[Annie]

Sullivan has been tweeting live all week, some interesting things in the past few minutes:

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

 

[editec]

The Mullah fundamentalists just signed their own death warrants, I suspect.

The best and the brightest Iranians are NOT going to stand down.

Oh that class may not be able to withstand this reaction for the moment, but who do you suppose are the people on the streets?

It's the college students and the professional class which makes that nation work that are out there protesting.

They'll take to the streets or they'll vote with their feet (i.e., leave Iran) but either way the Fundamentalists just alienated the very people that make that nation the money it needs to survive.

I note that this nation is ALSO fractured between their country-bumpkin religious losers and the urban professional class. (much like our is only much much much more so)

Well guess which class is actually necessary for a vibrant economy?

That educated class of Iranians does NOT hate America, or freedom. Hell, many of them went to school here, they KNOW who we are.

And now the fundamentalist morons in Iran have declared war on the very class that feeds them!

It was inevitable, I suppose.

Iran is and has been a modern nation (by whatever the standards were of the time)for the last 5000 years!

Those people are not about to allow their nation to be run by 12th century minds.

They will prevail.

America...stay the fuck out of this fracus.

They need to win this battle without the WEST'S interference because when they do, then nobody in Iran can say that they're tools of America.

Stay out of it, let them win it themselves and then we're ALL going to be better off.

 

[Sunni Man]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

They want a government they can control and a leader who will be their puppet.

 

[JBeukema]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

got any evidence to back up your claims?

 

[Annie]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

They want a government they can control and a leader who will be their puppet.

Bullshit. The mullahs are every bit as fascist as Hitler was. They will no more have their 1000 years than he did.

 

[Annie]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcgYycnlHI&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Persian BBC -[/ame]​

 

[Sunni Man]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

They want a government they can control and a leader who will be their puppet.

Bullshit. The mullahs are every bit as fascist as Hitler was. They will no more have their 1000 years than he did.

Now you are really getting silly Annie


The people of Iran put the Mullahs in power during the Iranian Revolution

This is the government the people wanted.

Why can't we just leave the Iranian people alone?

 

[Annie]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

They want a government they can control and a leader who will be their puppet.

Bullshit. The mullahs are every bit as fascist as Hitler was. They will no more have their 1000 years than he did.

Now you are really getting silly Annie


The people of Iran put the Mullahs in power during the Iranian Revolution

This is the government the people wanted.

Why can't we just leave the Iranian people alone?

Just try for once to get some information.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

 

[Bootneck]

Israel, the CIA, and Britan are behind the unrest in Iran.

They want a government they can control and a leader who will be their puppet.

So sayeth our resident expert on Iran and ahmedinnerjacket apologist.

 

[Bootneck]

Why can't we just leave the Iranian people alone?

So says he who can't leave a certain segment of society he disagrees with alone.

 

[Annie]

If twitters don't do it for you, try ap:

Witnesses report fierce clashes on Tehran streets - Yahoo! News

Witnesses report fierce clashes on Tehran streets

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writers
9 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Witnesses said police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in Tehran Saturday in open defiance of Iran's clerical government, sharply escalating the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The eyewitnesses described fierce clashes near Revolution Square in central Tehran after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" Police responded with tear gas and water cannons.

The witnesses told The Associated Press that between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in central Tehran. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.

Helicopters hovered over central Tehran. Ambulance sirens echoed through the streets and black smoke rose over the city.

Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia while students inside the university chanted "death to the dictator," witnesses said.

English-language state TV said a blast at the Tehran shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had killed one persona and wounded two but the report could not be independently confirmed due to government restrictions on independent reporting.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders on Friday to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come.

Eyewitnesses said thousands of police and plainclothes militia members had filled the streets Saturday to prevent rallies. Fire trucks took up positions in Revolution Square and riot police surrounded Tehran University, the site of recent clashes between protesters and security forces, one witness said.

Web sites run by supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he planned to post a message, but there was no statement by the time of the planned street protests at 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT, 1130 GMT). Some pro-reform Web sites called for people to take to the streets

Tehran Province Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan said earlier in the day "police forces will crack down on any gathering or protest rally which are being planned by some people."
English-language state TV said the country's highest national security body had ordered security forces to deal with the situation. It did not elaborate.

The government statements were the most explicit warnings yet of force against protesters who gathered in massive rallies last week to demand the government cancel and rerun elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mousavi says he won but Ahmadinejad stole the election through widespread fraud.

Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad Friday, saying the result reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests or face the consequences.
The statement effectively closed the door to Mousavi's demand for a new election, ratcheting up the possibility of a bloody confrontation.

 

[Sunni Man]

The protesters are now becomming terrorists.

The Iranian government needs to treat them like the criminals they are.

 

[Annie]

The protesters are now becomming terrorists.

The Iranian government needs to treat them like the criminals they are.

So says the real terrorists apologist.

 

[Sunni Man]

The protesters are now becomming terrorists.

The Iranian government needs to treat them like the criminals they are.

So says the real terrorists apologist.

If the same thing was going on here in America.

We would be rounding them up and putting them in jail.

I believe in law and order. Don't you?

 

[Annie]

The protesters are now becomming terrorists.

The Iranian government needs to treat them like the criminals they are.

So says the real terrorists apologist.

If the same thing was going on here in America.

We would be rounding them up and putting them in jail.

I believe in law and order. Don't you?

"The protestors" have been walking quietly through the streets for the past week-no weapons. No, they wouldn't be arrested here, not for marching-happens every day in DC and major cities in US.