Iran erupts after vote

[pa28]

Source: Sunday Times

In the Iranian capital’s most serious unrest for 10 years, thousands of liberals who claimed the election had been rigged vented their fury in running battles with police.

....

Private polling of 5,000 voters conducted in advance of the election for the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and seen by The Sunday Times, suggested the reformist would win at least 58% of votes across Iran. However, the official result gave him just under 34%.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6493970.ece

[havocmom]

1. Huff post has slide show. Looks like burn baby burn; Persian Edition

This is not gonna be peaceful

[Xipe Totec]

2. Holy FUCK! n/t

[havocmom]

3. That is an understatement

And I wonder what Bibi is thinking right now

Oh, and Obama needs to deal with DOMA right now too. :banghead:

[Xipe Totec]

4. I was hoping the SCOTUS would handle DOMA

With Sonia carrying water for the Obama team....

[EFerrari]

25. What?

[Autumn Colors]

5. The scrolling messages on Twitter are amazing

I thought Twitter was nonsense until today.

If you have an account, log in at http://twitter.com and on the "trending topics" click on #iranelection or tehran.

Refresh every few minutes. People are reporting from Tehran despite internet going on and off. Cellphone service was cut for a long time. Landline phone service between Tehran and all other parts of Iran cut off.

People are reporting that Mousavi has been placed under house arrest as well as former Pres. Khatami and his relatives, a prominent feminist activist, 30 journalists from the opposition newspaper.

Protester deaths being reported as well.

Because of communications being cut off, people all over Iran are being asked to go to their windows and rooftops and shout "Allah o'Ackbar" in solidarity with Mousavi. They are spreading the word any way they can and people twittering in Tehran and other places say you can hear the shouts coming from all over. People were asked to do this during the Iranian revolution.

This isn't a stolen election protest. This is going to turn into a full-scale revolution.

I was in Iran during the "first volley" of the last one in 1978 (burning of the cinema in Abadan, August 1978).

This will not end peacefully.

[rollin74]

6. you are absolutely right

Twitter activity about Iran is amazing right now. Lots of reports of continuing student protest activity, especially around Tehran University.

fascinating (never thought I'd say that about Twitter)

[pjt7]

7. Kermit Roosevelt

is smiling today.

[EFerrari]

27. Thought I felt that SOB here somewhere.

[ohio2007]

10. strange stuff posted there

UPDATE ON TEHRAN: RIOT POLICE IN TEHRAN ARE MOSTLY PALESTINIAN HEZBOLLAH FORCES

[aquart]

21. HUH?

[ohio2007]

23. Yes, that was an actual twitter post.

they come fast and furious on that thread

[NBachers]

8. Holee Shit I got goosebumps

Katie Couric rehabilitated herself a little in my eyes during the 2008 election. I will now slightly tolerate her instead of snarling and grabbing the remote every time she shows her face.

Twitter (god I hate that fucking word) seemed like a "Keep Up With The Latest CELEBRITIES! " tool (and I use that word in the pejorative way) to me. Maybe it's more useful than I gave it credit for.

I get the feeling This Is Big

[pa28]

11. Somebody posted a link to their flickr photostream too

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388

?v=0

well worth a look.

[Warpy]

20. Here too

http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post_13.html

[HughMoran]

17. Amazing

I hope they are successful in getting rid of their psychopathic leadership.

[rainbow4321]

33. Tear gas being thrown at students at a university right now

by (what is being reported as) members of the Intel Ministry..they are raiding the university where student protestors have gathered.


http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran

[IndianaGreen]

9. Large scale unrest errupts following Iran election (Al Arabiya)

Iranian dissenting voters took to the streets to protest
Iran's election results

Saturday, 13 June 2009 ]

Reporters to leave Iran amid violence, Mousavi appeals to clerics

Large scale unrest errupts following Iran election

TEHRAN/CAIRO (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)

Large scale violence not seen for a decade erupted in Tehran Saturday and Iranian authorities have asked foreign journalists to leave the country as riot police beat reformist supporters protesting the disputed election results, killing three and wounding others.

Three dissenting voters died amidst large scale clashes that broke out over election results between supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Iranian police chased and arrested demonstrators who staged a sit-in at Tehran's Vanak Square, one of the capital's busiest intersections.

Iranian security forces have asked foreign journalists covering the elections to leave the country as fire shooting erupted in Fatimi square near Tehran's interior ministry after the ministry announced President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's resounding victory in Friday's vote.

Following the official announcement of election results presidential challenger Mousavi called on religious clerics to protect dissenters.

Moreover, in a protest against election results Iran’s Hashemi Rafsanjani resigned from his posts as the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and as head of the Expediency Discernment Council, the two most influential institutions in the country.

Mousavi, who "strongly protested" what he called the many irregularities in the election, called upon the country's religious clerics to safeguard the political choices of Iranian voters.

He said in a separate statement that members of his election headquarters had been beaten "with batons, wooden sticks and electrical rods." He did not give details.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/13/75853.html

[IndianaGreen]

12. Poll results prompt Iran protests (Al Jazeera)

Protesters battled police and started fires, but their
actions appeared not to be co-ordinated

Poll results prompt Iran protests

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets of Tehran in protest against the outcome of the country's elections, in the biggest unrest since the 1979 revolution.

Riot police were deployed in the capital on Saturday after about 3,000 supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, a reformist candidate, took to the streets following the announcement of his defeat by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president.

The protests intensified following a televised speech by Ahmadinejad in which he said the vote had been "completely free" and the outcome was "a great victory" for Iran.

<snip>

'Running battles'

Al Jazeera's Teymoor Nabili, reporting from Tehran, said major streets in the north of the city had come to a standstill.

"Coming up the street there were running battles happening between riot police and students and there were refuse bins alight in the middle of the road," he said.

"I saw riot police hitting students with sticks. I saw students - or young people - throwing stones at the riot police, trying to knock them off their motorcycles.

"But you didn't get a sense that there was any kind of organised movement in this."

Mohsen Khancharli, Tehran's deputy police chief, warned that his officers would "strongly confront" any gathering or rally held without permission.

"Police are not confronting people but only those who are disturbing public order or who make damage to public places," he told Iran's official IRNA news agency.

Fearing the protests might spread, authorities blocked access to some news websites and Facebook, the social networking site.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009613172130303995.html

[Dramarama]

13. Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0MkATcn04M

[IndianaGreen]

14. Great!

Thanks for the link.

[ohio2007]

15. pic of civil disobedience

mullahs are going to do away with the middle class

[IndianaGreen]

16. This is how the Shah was brought down

by a little spark of civil disobedience.

[HughMoran]

18. CNN has been running some fantastic footage of the rioting

I don't normally watch CNN, but MSNBC is not showing news, so this is my only choice.

[Dramarama]

19. I actually like CNN

Not a lot of commentary

[zeemike]

22. They need some serious help on how to steal an election

You don't win it by 66/34
First you have pools that show it will be close and then you win by 51/49
Karl Rove should have been hired.

[ohio2007]

26. Bet their math would reveal 110% voter turnout if they recover those dumped ballot boxes from the

outter areas of the country. I wonder if they would dare breakdown the vote, the way its done in the US
county by county.



but anyway,
breaking news from around the blogasphere;

June 13, 2009

Stealing an Election, Iranian Edition

Juan Cole: "I am aware of the difficulties of catching history on the run. Some explanation may emerge for Ahmadinejad's upset that does not involve fraud... But just as a first reaction, this post-election situation looks to me like a crime scene. And here is how I would reconstruct the crime."

snip

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/06/13/stealing_an_election_iranian_edition.html

Top Pieces of Evidence that the Iranian Presidential Election Was Stolen

1. It is claimed that Ahmadinejad won the city of Tabriz with 57%. His main opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is an Azeri from Azerbaijan province, of which Tabriz is the capital. Mousavi, according to such polls as exist in Iran and widespread anecdotal evidence, did better in cities and is popular in Azerbaijan. Certainly, his rallies there were very well attended. So for an Azeri urban center to go so heavily for Ahmadinejad just makes no sense. In past elections, Azeris voted disproportionately for even minor presidential candidates who hailed from that province.

2. Ahmadinejad is claimed to have taken Tehran by over 50%. Again, he is not popular in the cities, even, as he claims, in the poor neighborhoods, in part because his policies have produced high inflation and high unemployment. That he should have won Tehran is so unlikely as to raise real questions about these numbers.

snip

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.html

Four more years

The post-election situation looks to me like a crime scene.

[starroute]

24. Getting close to being daylight there again

The realtime map at http://www.daylightmap.com/ shows the sunrise line just reaching Pakistan -- so maybe another hour to sunrise in eastern Iran? and another half hour after that to Tehran and Shiraz? Something like that.

Oh edit: Yeah. It's 4:38 in Tehran right now and Weather Underground says sunrise there will be 5:48 and twilight starting at 5:18. So...

[ohio2007]

28. Wonder if the mullahs will wake up with a nasty hangover and loud noise on the street

oh


but they don't drink


;)

yeah

thats right.

[Odin2005]

29. This is the begining of the end of Iran's theocracy.

[ohio2007]

31. it's "Rage against the theocracy machine" by the middle class

I think the mullahs will keep the lid on, reign them in and push them to the back burner but,
all can see,
they are venting this weekend.



The mullahs need oil to go well over $100 bbl to calm the masses

[excess_3]

34. sadly, I don't think so ....dictators seem to have improved the recipe

war veterans, Mugabe;s version
revolutionary guards, KhomainEEs version
Saudi Abdullas extended family
Chia pet has some version of this


the days of real revolutions has gone to history books

[PatrynXX]

30. In order for true democracy to work..

it can't be forced. This wasn't done in Iraq. They removed the head of the monster without giving it something to stand on.

How did America come into being? It wasn't forced on us, we had to go to war with England. In order for it to last, Iran has to go thru it. Iran's own people are doing it, not someone else. I hope they can win.

[ohio2007]

32. They need a "Bastille" to storm this July to make them less miserable so to speak

.......
mobs filled the city's streets. The fear spread that the king would retaliate with force. On July 14 the mob stormed the Bastille to obtain arms. The attack launched the nation down a pathway that would eventually lead to the destruction of the monarchy and the execution of Louis XVI.
......
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/frenchrevolution.htm

Sunday Bloody Sunday

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8e2_1244936838

[ohio2007]

35. Protests flare at Iran's embassy in London

Protests flare at Iran's embassy in London

Anti-government protesters outside the Iranian embassy in London have thrown paint at people turning up to vote in Iran's presidential election. Two people were arrested.

Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term in office, but he faces a strong challenge from former PM Mir Hossein Mousavi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8097804.stm

Crowds gather for Ahmadinejad victory rally

Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have gathered in Tehran to celebrate his re-election, after a vote his critics say was fixed.

There have been several outbreaks of violence since the result was announced and there were reports of new small-scale clashes before the rally.

Security forces have arrested up to 100 members of reformist groups, accusing them of orchestrating the violence.

Mr Ahmadinejad denied any vote-fixing, saying the result was "very accurate".





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8099501.stm