Struggle among Iran's clerics bursts into the open

[unapatriciated]

Source: By NASSER KARIMI and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, AP

TEHRAN, Iran — A backstage struggle among Iran's ruling clerics burst into the open Sunday when the government said it had arrested the daughter and other relatives of an ayatollah who is one of the country's most powerful men.

State media said the daughter and four other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani were released later Sunday but their arrests appeared to be a clear warning from the hardline establishment to a cleric who may be aligning himself with the opposition.

Tehran's streets fell mostly quiet for the first time since a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, but cries of "God is great!" echoed again from rooftops after dark, a sign of seething anger at a government crackdown that peaked with at least 10 protesters' deaths Saturday.

The killings drove the official death toll to at least 17 after a week of massive street demonstrations by protesters who say hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole his re-election win. But searing images posted online — including gruesome video purporting to show the fatal shooting of a teenage girl — hinted the true toll may be higher.

Police and the feared Basij militia swarmed the streets of Tehran to prevent more protests and the government intensified a crackdown on independent media — expelling a BBC correspondent, suspending the Dubai-based network Al-Arabiya and detaining at least two local journalists for U.S. magazines.

Read more: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090619/ML.Iran.Election/

[ohio2007]

1. Video of Basij getting their asses handed to them by 'the mob'. A modern scene from the movie "300"

found on twitter;


Footage of protesters v. police. Protesters win, shouts of "hurrah!" at the end



درگیری های روز شنبه تهران = Saturday's clashes Tehran
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090621_ag_street_clashes.shtml

Persians pushed back

[bloomington-lib]

2. Great video. Thanks for finding it

[keopeli]

3. Fantastic video!!!!! Thx for posting!!!

[unapatriciated]

4. tried to thank for the vid earlier, but couldn't post on DU, only site I couldn't access.

Thanks for the vid.
I had watched one earlier where the police failed to arrest a protester, they were outnumbered.