From LilyIrani: “guys, pls, be careful. Plainclothes are in front of hospitals to arrest people who are injured in Ashura events and wanna cure themselves in hospitals. A doctor told me more than 20 persons are arrested with this method.”
Update:: December 28, 2009 12:43 p.m. (PST) President Obama has just issued a statement condemning Iranian government’s actions: Update: December 28, 2009 12:18 p.m. (PST): FreeIran on Facebook VIA Twitter: Thank you to the Austrian Embassy in Tehran which has opened its doors to help the protestors today! VIA Twitter: (hat tip: Moharram) Twitter: “Up to 15 dead, more than 1200 arrested in opposition protests” Financial Times headline: “Washington No Longer Able to Remain Silent on Iran” Obama administration “damned if it does” and “damned if it doesn’t” support the “green wave” revolution for democracy in Iran. It damn well better get behind the people’s fight. See article here. Tehran fire department gives bull horns and sirens to help demonstrators Pictures from the fighting today December 28, 2009- Monday: (via TWITPICS)
crowd attacks a police officer December 28, 2009
painting everything "green" for the protests
Rocks and pieces of sidewalk
Day of Ashoura uprising 12-27-09
From the town of Gorgan, Persian2English reports: Mourners in Gorgan Shout Anti-Regime Slogans After a Tasooa service in the city of Gorgan, a group of mourners started chanting anti-government slogans like: ”Death to Dictator,” “Abolfazal [the historical hero figure of Tasooa], uproot the dictator,” “Allegiance with tyranny is a sin,” “This is the month of blood, Yazid [a historical oppressor, Hossein's killer, now referenced to Khamenei] is going to be toppled.” According to reports, the atmosphere is very tense in Gorgan. – Sam Iraani, Persian2English Update: December 27, 10:46 p.m. (PST) Updated videos here, more below in original story. WARNING: Very graphic. This is a revolution now. Confront this evil and give the Iranians our support, since our President refuses to put down his golf clubs to acknowledge that good people have died today for democracy. 9 are dead, more than 300 arrested in violence in at least 5 Iranian cities. Here is updated bulletin from the PBS Frontline “Tehran Bureau”: Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters during anti-government demonstrations on Sunday, killing at least nine people and arresting more than 300 demonstrators in what marked the largest and most violent anti-government protests in the Islamic Republic since the summer, according to witnesses, opposition websites and state media. Thousands of Basij militia forces, police and anti-riot forces armed with guns, batons, pepper gas and tear gas clashed with protesters in squares throughout the Iranian capital. Protestors fought back fiercely, at times tearing out slabs of concrete from city sidewalks and smashing it to hurl stones at security forces, witnesses said. Demonstrations, which took place on Ashura — a religious holiday commemorating the death of Imam Hossein, Shi’ite Islam’s most revered martyr — spanned from northern Tehran through the central part of the city to include Azadi Square, Enghelab Square, Seventh of Tir Square, Valiasr Square, Imam Hossein Square and Karim Khan Street. Protests also took place in south-central and south-east Tehran, and in the cities of Shiraz, Arak, Najafabad, Isfahan, Mahshad and Babol, reported witnesses and opposition websites. Sunday also marked the seventh day of mourning for Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a prominent “Grand” Ayatollah and founding father of the Islamic Republic who later became a staunch critic of the Iranian government. Mr. Montazeri’s death last Sunday sparked a fresh wave of protests throughout Iran. A Reformist website said late Sunday that state authorities declared martial law in the Grand Ayatollah’s hometown of Najafabad. Pro-opposition demonstrators throughout the country infused anti-government slogans with religious vocabulary traditionally used during Ashura mourning ceremonies. “This is the month of blood, Yazid will fall!” they shouted, likening Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with Yazid, the caliph responsible for Hossein’s death. Slogans grew more radical Sunday, with shouts of “Death to Khamenei,” reverbrating throughout the Iranian capital. Lines of “Special Guards” clad in black uniforms accompanied riot police to blockade and cordon off access to Valiasr Square early Sunday afternoon, said a university student attending the protests. Witnesses said police shot at protesters by Azadi Square and bludgeoned one protester to death in central Tehran. Another protester was run over by a security van in Valiasr Square, according to witnesses. “A riot police van ran over a guy [in Valiasr]…It just ran over him like he was a bug. I saw it and I’m shaken up real bad,” a witness told Tehran Bureau in an email. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi’s nephew was among the protesters killed Sunday, according to Mr. Mousavi’s Kalameh website. His nephew, 35-year old Seyed Ali Habibi Mousavi, was shot in the shoulder, websites reported. The New York Times reported Sunday that Tehran’s Najmieh Hospital had performed 17 operations on people with gunshot wounds. A doctor said the hospital was treating 60 people with serious head injuries, including three who were in critical condition, according to the newspaper. Medical personnel in Isfahan told Tehran Bureau that Revolutionary Guard agents forcefully evacuated some patients who had come for treatment after being beaten at protests. “They brought a few of the injured today to the Al Zahra hospital in Isfahan. One man in his 30s was so severely beaten that he was unconscious and immediately taken to the resuscitation room. Minutes after his arrival, plainclothes agents turned up and ordered hospital officials to immediately transfer the man to the Sadoughi Hospital, which is run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” a member of the hospital staff told Tehran Bureau. “As far as I know, there were no reported deaths here,” the hospital staff member said. State television said police used only anti-riot gear against protesters, and did not use guns, reporting that four people were killed Sunday — with one individual killed by gunfire, two people killed in a car accident and one person falling off of a bridge. “In light of the fact that the police did not use arms [guns], [the death by bullet] is very suspicious and is being investigated,” reported state television. Reformist media said Sunday that some police forces refused orders to shoot at pro-opposition demonstrators during protests in central Tehran. “Police forces are refusing their commanders’ orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran. Some of them attempted to shoot into the air when pressured by their commanders,” the Jaras website said. Demonstrators captured and set fire to a number of police cars and motorcycles, according to witnesses and videos posted on YouTube. Dumpsters were also set on fire and protesters set fire to a police fieldpost after pulling out officers inside, according to witnesses. “At Valiasr and Enghelab [Freedom Square], police forces attacked us. We dispersed into nearby alleys. After awhile, we heard cheering and whistling. Venturing back out, we saw that people had managed to overwhelm the police and had captured three of them, disarmed them of (their) shields and batons and let them go,” a witness told Tehran Bureau by telephone Sunday. “Black smoke was rising from the direction of Karim Khan Street. Police cars had been set on fire,” the witness said. Update: December 27, 2009 9:00 p.m. (PST): The National Iranian Armed Resistance Force (NIRU) announces that it will support the Iranian people’s revolution. The NIRU claims to be “officers, soldiers and personnel of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is what the brave Patriots of Iran need—guns and protection from the oppressive Iranian government. The NIRU is asking for full support of Iranian military personnel, and free elections within 9 months. The full news release was just posted on an Iranian support website on Facebook. See it here. Update: December 27, 2009 8:35 p.m. (PST): London Telegraph editorial: Iranians are Dying for Freedom– Where is Barack Obama?
Day of Ashura, Iran December 27, 2009
(Videos contain graphic material)
The PBS Frontline “Tehran Bureau” on Facebook reports at least nine are dead in protests in many large Iranian cities today. The fight is no longer for free elections, it is now being called an “intifada” (holy war) to end the brutal Islamic regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ruling Muslim mullahs.
The dead included a nephew of opposition leader Hossein Mousavi, according to a Mousavi support website.
The protestors believe the spring presidential election was fraudulent and that Mousavi is the rightful Iranian president.
This young man was struck by police bullets and died in Tehran today.
Fierce confrontations are reported by Fox News in the cities of Qom, Tabriz in northwest Iran, Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south, virtually parts of the country.
With civilians barred from owning guns in the Islamic Republic, the crowds are using their sheer numbers and whatever objects they can find to fight against the Iranian government’s “plainclothes” police force, called the “Basij.”
Because the western media is barred from coverage in the country, reformers are using their cellphones to take still photos and videos and transmit them via “small-screen”, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to the world.
See complete reports from students and the PBS Frontline Tehran Bureau HERE
It is reported in one part of Tehran the crowds broke up concrete sidewalks and threw the pieces at Basijis, who were driven back into their cars and left.
Today marks the 7th day since the death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who had been critical of the religious and secular leadership of the country. Today was also the day of the religious observance of Ashoura, heavy with symbolism for Shiite Muslims.
Time Magazine explains the significance of Ashoura to the revolution:
It marks the death of Imam Hussain whose martyrdom at the hands of the Caliph Yazid is the religious foundation of the Islamic Republic’s generalized stand against what it calls the “global arrogance.” “This month is a month of blood. Yazid will fall!” came the cry from the steady stream of thousands of opposition supporters filing down Revolution Street — Yazid, the unjust caliph now equated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the town of Sirjan, the crowd was unable to keep two prisoners from being hung and took after “Basij” police. In Tehran, one of the crowds broke into police cars to free the prisoners. A thundering street protest in Tehran today ( hat tip: Korosh Irani, Facebook reporter ) Here are all the videos from PBS Frontline Tehran Bureau from today’s “Ashoura” uprising
President Obama, does your Hawaiian golf schedule permit time to stand for freedom in Iran?
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