YOU TUBE: Iranian Snipers Taking Out Protesters
YOU TUBE: Police Brutality in Iran
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THE TELEGRAPH: Violence Flares Again on the Streets of Tehran
Violence has flared on the streets of Tehran after the wife of defeated Iranian presidential candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, called on Iranians to defend their right to protest.
Demonstrators and riot police clashed in the streets around Iran's parliament as hundreds of people converged in defiance of government orders to end their demands for new presidential election.
A video posted on YouTube showed a crowd of several hundred stone-throwing demonstrators confronting a police barricade. Security forces appeared to vastly outnumber the demonstrators and beat back crowds with batons and tear gas canisters and fired rounds of ammunition into the air.
One video showed men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator."
Reports on the social networking site, Twitter, said there was deliberate brutality as police dispersed the crowd. "Just in from Baharestan Sq – situation today is terrible – they beat the ppls like animals," said one entry. Another added: "In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping ppl like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher."
In a sign that the authorities were increasingly targeting Mr Mousavi's inner circle, 25 staff at one of his newspapers were put under arrest. The newspaper Kalemeh Sabz (Green Word) was shut down by the authorities in the wake of the disputed election that returned Mr Ahmadinejad to power.
It came as Mr Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a prominent professor, demanded the immediate release of people detained since the election and criticised the presence of armed forces in the streets. "It is my duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights," she declared on the campaign website.
The regime issued a series of statements reiterating its unbending resolve in the face of popular defiance. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the disputed election result would stand and Iran would resist foreign interference. "On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means, we will not go one step beyond the law," he said. "Neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure at any price. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
