TIMES ONLINE: The Iranian opposition dashed the regime’s hopes that its protests would gradually fade away by staging another huge demonstration against electoral fraud yesterday and calling for an even bigger show of strength today as unrest spread across the country.
The demonstrators’ defiance of bans, violent repression and official pleas for unity is driving the regime towards increasingly extreme measures to enforce President Ahmadinejad’s hotly disputed re-election last Friday. Security forces have arrested dozens of prominent opposition figures in the past two days, detained hundreds of students in raids on universities and threatened legal action against “deviant” websites and bloggers who provoked unrest.
“Everyone is so energised and pumped up but no one knows how it will end,” one Tehran resident said. “The city is burning with equal doses of energy and rage and thugs who look like they’ve been unleashed from the city jail roam the streets wielding sticks and batons. We cannot decide whether to rejoice or despair.”
In an attempt to sway public opinion, the regime is blaming the protests on Western intelligence agencies. Last night it accused the United States — the “Great Satan” — of “intolerable” interference in Iranian affairs. The senior prosecutor in the province of Isfahan threatened demonstrators with execution, claiming that they were controlled by foreigners. Iranian Opposition Vows to Keep Pressure on Regime with Shows of Strength >>> Martin Fletcher and Ella Flaye in Tehran | Thursday, June 18, 2009
