Police Use Batons and Tear Gas at Neda Soltan Ceremony
TIMES ONLINE: It was meant to be a solemn religious ceremony in a cemetery where countless Islamic revolutionaries and martyrs are buried. Instead, the security forces turned the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery near Tehran into a battlefield yesterday, attacking hundreds of mourners with batons and teargas and driving opposition leaders away before they could even offer their prayers.

The occasion was the end of the 40-day mourning period for Neda Soltan, the student who became an icon of the opposition movement when she was killed in one of the protests after the disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad.

It was marked not by prayers and readings from the Koran but by the desecration of the cemetery and, on the streets of the capital, battles between the regime’s forces and thousands of defiant Iranians who have refused to abandon their dreams of freedom.

As darkness fell the clashes continued. Observers said that the demonstrators were becoming increasingly fearless and that other protests held recently had been broken up much faster. “They are holding their own. They’re taking the beatings in their stride,” said one witness.

Tyres and rubbish skips burnt on the pavements, the air reeked of teargas and there were reports of gunfire. Many were arrested and the Basij smashed the windows of cars whose drivers supported the protesters by hooting.

The demonstrators, however, had once again made their point: seven weeks after the election, and despite their brutal tactics and mass arrests, the security forces have conspicuously failed to crush the opposition.

“We’re here to show that we’re here to stay. We are a fact the Government has to face,” said Ahmad, a shopkeeper. Maryam, an office worker, said: “We’re out here to show our hatred. You keep hearing about what they did to people in these prisons and all you feel is anger and disgust.”

The inauguration of Mr Ahmadinejad, which is due to take place on Wednesday, will lead to more demonstrations. Mir Hossein Mousavi, his defeated challenger, is expected to build on the opposition’s unexpected momentum by starting a broad political movement to fight for justice and democracy. >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, July 31, 2009

Security forces, protesters face off in Iran

Iran Election: Faces of the Dead and Detained
If you’d like to help The Guardian put a face to the dead or detained in Iran in the recent uprisings, click here

'Wailing of Wolves' in Iran as Cries of Allahu Akbar Ring from Roofs
TIMES ONLINE: At about 9pm each day Nushin, a young housewife, performs the same curious ritual. She climbs up the stairs to the roof of her Tehran home and begins shouting into the night. Allahu akbar,” she cries, and sometimes “Death to the dictator”.

She is not alone. Across the darkened city, from rooftops and through open windows, thousands of others do the same to form one great chorus of protest — a collective wail of anger against a reviled regime that no amount of riot police and Basiji militia can stop. “It sounds like the wailing of wolves,” said one Tehrani.

And each night, as the street demonstrations are crushed with overwhelming force and the regime cracks down on all other forms of dissent, it grows steadily louder and more insistent, not just in Tehran but in other densely populated cities of the Islamic Republic.

“It’s the way we reassure ourselves that we are still here and we are still together,” says Nushin, a woman who has never dared to rebel before.

“This is what people did before the revolution and I hope it warns the regime about what could happen if it doesn’t change its way.

“And because I’m a religious person the sound resonating in the neighbourhood makes me feel better. Even my little daughter joins me, and I can see how she feels that she is part of something bigger. It is our unique way of civil disobedience and what’s interesting is that it increases every time they do something that makes people angrier.” >>> Martin Fletcher | Thursday, June 25, 2009

Roxana Saberi on Iran Protests
Watch BBC Newsnight interview: Journalist Roxana Saberi talks to Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman about her imprisonment in Iran earlier this year, and her views about the protests in Iran over the disputed elections. >>>

Iran Report: Security Forces Open Fire at Protesters
YNET NEWS: Hundreds of protesters gather near parliament building Wednesday afternoon, unofficial reports say. Rally violently broken off by Revolutionary Guard forces firing tear gas, live bullets at crowd. One woman reportedly wounded

Security forces in Iran violently clashed with protesters near parliament house in the capital of Tehran Wednesday afternoon, unofficial reports said.

Police officers are said to have used live ammunition against the crowd attending a rally protesting the disputed election results. According to one report, a young woman has been shot by security forces and could not be evacuated to a hospital.

Other protesters have been beaten with batons and the cellular network in the area has been completely cut off, to prevent participants from reporting about the violence or send images to others.

Sources in Tehran said that the protesters attempted to move towards Baharestan Square near parliament while holding hands. Many were wearing black bracelets in memory of Neda Soltani, the young woman who was shot to death by security forces last Saturday and became a symbol for the opposition's struggle. Other carried pictures of Soltani, or candles. >>> Dudi Cohen | Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Map of Tehran: Courtesy of the BBC
TIMES ONLINE: Riot Police Crush Protests in Tehran Amid Allegations of Brutality

It was a far cry from the massive demonstrations of last week. Today, just a few hundred protesters converged on Baharestan Square, opposite the Iranian Parliament, and they were brutally repulsed.

It was an exercise in courageous futility, not a contest. Thousands of riot police and militiamen flooded the area. They used teargas, batons and overwhelming force. Helicopters hovered overhead. Nobody was allowed to stop or to gather, let alone exercise their constitutional right to protest.

A video clip posted on YouTube showed young men and women, their faces concealed behind bandanas, throwing stones by a burning barricade and chanting “Death to the Dictator”.

Twitter was flooded with lurid messages. “They pull away the dead — like factory — no human can do this,” said one. “They catch people with mobile — so many killed today — so many injured,” said another. “In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping ppl like meat — blood everywhere,” said a third.

There was no way of confirming such reports. It was unclear how many people were injured and arrested, or whether anyone was killed. The handful of foreign reporters left in Tehran are barred from rallies, and all but the bravest Iranians now steer well clear of them.

All that can be said for certain is the regime has finally recaptured the streets through strength of numbers and the unrestrained use of violence. Thirty years after the Iranian revolution it no longer rules with consent, but with military might, and it is cracking down with all means at its disposal.

“Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared on state-controlled television today. “I will insist on implementation of the law.”

Saeed Mortazavi, an Iranian prosecutor notorious for his abuse of prisoners, has been put in charge of arresting and investigating dissidents. >>> Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Police Break Up New Tehran Rally
BBC: Iranian riot police have fired tear gas to break up a new opposition rally in the centre of the capital Tehran, hours after a stern warning to protesters.

Some 1,000 people had gathered on Haft-e Tir Square despite the warning from Iran's Revolutionary Guards against holding unapproved rallies.

Reports say the police were reinforced by Basij militiamen wielding clubs.

The Guards, an elite armed force, vowed to crack down on new street protests over the presidential election results.

On Friday Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned protests, prompting street violence in which at least 10 people died.

Severe reporting restrictions placed on the BBC and other foreign media in Iran mean protest reports cannot be verified independently. >>> | Monday, June 22, 2009

Protesting at Azadi Square (June 2009)
This is a blog entry that was written by a participant in the pro-reformist demonstrations staged by supporters of the opposition in Iran. This dispatch was sent to relatives with an explicit request to disseminate it to as wide an audience as possible, thus circumventing the draconian censorship imposed by Iranian authorities on journalists, particularly foreign correspondents.
HAARETZ:
Defying Iran Censors, a Blogger Reports from Tehran >>> By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent | Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Shah's Son Sees Iran Protests as Threat to Regime
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی): WASHINGTON - The growing street protests over Iran's disputed presidential election mark the biggest threat to its ruling clerics since they took power in 1979 with the U.S.-backed shah's fall, the shah's son said on Tuesday.

Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran who now lives in the United States, said the protests almost have reached the level of a revolution that could usher in major reforms.

"It is clear that the genie is out of the bottle," Pahlavi, 48, said in an interview with Reuters Television.

But he declined to predict whether the end result would be the toppling of the political leadership of Shi'ite Muslim clerics installed after his father lost power.

"Today, the people are, in reality, challenging the whole system," added Pahlavi, who describes himself as an advocate for democracy and human rights in Iran.

He said he does not believe the protests are only over the disputed election, but reflect a widespread desire for reform and more freedoms three decades after the revolution.

Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate, Mirhossein Mousavi, have taken to the streets to dispute the outcome of last week's election in which hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei favored Ahmadinejad.

"Today, especially the younger generation has had it. They are risking their lives in the streets of Iran to demonstrate to the regime that they are not going to take it any more. But (they are) also telling the whole world, 'Hey, what are you going to do? Are you going to finally side with us, or are you continuing to focus only on the regime?'" he added. >>> By Will Dunham, Reuters | Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Shots Fired as Thousands Take to the Streets of Iran to Protest Election Results
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a mass rally in Tehran to protest against alleged vote rigging.

Con Coughlin on Iran election results
Despite official orders banning the demonstration from going ahead, Mr Mousavi addressed his followers as they chanted "give us back our votes".

Standing on a car roof and speaking to the surging crowds through a loud hailer, he declared: "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person."

In contrast to a previous rally on Saturday, the security forces made no attempt to break up the gathering, although there were occasional clashes with bystanders suspected to be supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

As night fell, there were reports of gunmen firing on protesters, killing at least one person and wounding several others in Tehran's Azadi Square. The shooting is thought to have come from a compound for volunteer militia linked to the Revolutionary Guard.

But most police stood watching with their helmets and shields at their sides, while protesters – wearing the green wristbands, scarves and hats that have symbolised the Mousavi campaign – urged them to join in the demonstration.

"Law enforcers, support us, support us!" they shouted. "You are green like us!" Others urged Mohammad Khatami, the former president who pioneered the reformist movement and who backed Mr Mousavi's candidacy, to also attend the rally. Mr Khatami had earlier criticised the authorities for denying permission for the demonstration, and said that the election had dented public trust in the regime. >>> By Colin Freeman | Monday, June 15, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Hardliners Open Fire as Tension Grips Tehran

Tehran was a tinderbox last night after government paramilitaries started shooting during a huge public protest against last Friday's disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Members of the Basij, a force of young Islamic hardliners, killed one demonstrator and wounded several more when their building was attacked, after tens of thousands of demonstrators held a rally against election fraud in defiance of a government ban.

In another incident, a witness told The Times how she watched from her car as riot police on six motorbikes opened fire on youths walking under a bridge after the rally.

“The riot police started shooting them with big guns,” she said. “It wasn’t like the films where there is just a small hole — the shooting was blowing off hands, limbs. It was terrrible, terrible.”

Gunfire was heard in at least three other districts of the Iranian capital. The Ministry of the Interior was rumoured to have authorised the use of live ammunition as the regime struggled to maintain control. Supporters of the defeated candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, fought running battles with the police and Basiji, who have flooded into Tehran. >>> Martin Fletcher | Tuesday, June 16, 2009

We Fight On. We Fight to Win!
THE TELEGRAPH: YouTube, Facebook and other websites have brought down a virtual wall between Iran and the West, writes Leyla Ferani.

Iranian supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi attend a protest. Photo: The Telegraph
Earlier this year I spent a month living in Tehran. I’m a 21 year-old British-Iranian from London, and it was my first time back to the Islamic Republic since my twelfth birthday. By day, I dutifully donned a shawl and an overcoat, in public playing the part – like all Iranian girls my age – of the respectful and obedient woman.

But at night, and in private, the shawls were off. The same girls – with their brothers and cousins – joined me in underground raves, fuelled by smuggled alcohol and copious amounts of cannabis. Among the city’s youth, the elections hardly entered conversation. When I asked Mazyiar, a twenty-six year-old, if he would vote, he shrugged, saying, “All the candidates are approved by the Ayatollah, what’s the point?”

In the space of two months, all that has changed. “Where is my vote?”, thousands of young Iranians are chanting in the streets and posting on their supposedly banned Facebook profiles. One look at my own feed tells me how cheated the young people of Iran feel, now that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been re-elected for another four years. “Shout out on the street: ‘Death to the dictator’”, one status tells me, adding cautiously , “but remember not to protest in groups, you must stay dispersed.” Another one says simply, “Supporters of Mousavi protest from Vali-Aser square to Tajrish wearing green cloth”.

All the young Iranians who told me they wouldn’t vote surged behind Mir-Hossein Mousavi; maybe they saw him as the lesser of two evils, the only candidate able to oust the hardliner. One thing is certain: for young middle class Iranians the strained veneer of the Islamist regime is crumbling. They are sick of leading double lives, and having a President they consider to be a global embarrassment.

“I have a good life, I party harder than you guys do”, a twenty-four year old student told me at a party in downtown Tehran, just managing to lift his voice above the music (the lyrics ‘I wanna make love’ blared out). He went on, with typical Persian hyperbole: “I feel a heaviness in my heart, because I know that I’m not living the way I want to.” Judging by the events of the last few days, this heaviness has turned to anger, as young Iranians battled with riot police in the streets, setting fire to cars and fleeing the stun grenades.

If it ever happens, young Iranians believe they will be the ones to dismantle Iran’s Islamist regime. There is some irony in this – after all, a generation ago it was the students who began the 1979 revolution. That year, on November 4, a fresh-faced Ahmadinejad was among those who stormed the US embassy, beginning the Iran hostage crisis.

Those events confirmed fears that the newly formed Islamic republic was to be a pariah to the West. Yet it was only around 500 students who volunteered to be the vessel for the 1979 change. Now in Islamic garb, they are running the country. But is their time running out?

The recent protests have a new dimension: they were organised – and publicised – online. Iranians intent on change are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other blogging sites as a loudspeaker to amplify their anger towards the regime. Iran can no longer suppress its youth >>> Leyla Ferani | Monday, June 15, 2009

Tens of Thousands Defy Ban to March in Tehran in Support of Mousavi
TIMES ONLINE: Tens of thousands of Iranians defied a ban to protest against last week’s hotly-disputed presidential election result as the authorities struggled to contain anger amongst the reformist opposition.

Chanting crowds, some wearing green campaign colours, greeted Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate in Friday's poll, as he slowly moved through the streets on the back of a four-wheel drive car.

Scufflles broke out as supporters of Mr Ahmadinejad, riding motorbikes and armed with sticks, attacked the demonstrators along the route.

"The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person!" said Mr Mousavi, standing on the car roof in Revolution Square and speaking through a loudhailer.

The crowds of young and old who packed several kilometres of his route, shouted back: "Mousavi we support you! We will die but retrieve our votes!" >>> Jenny Booth | Monday, June 15, 2009

Watch BBC video: Thousands of Mir Hossein Mousavi supporters protest in Tehran >>>

REUTERS: Tens of Thousands in Iran Protest

Some Sugar from Obama before Tea Parties
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AS US taxpayers rush to meet the April 15 deadline to lodge their tax returns, and President Barack Obama talks up the economy, thousands of citizens will hold tea parties throughout the nation to protest the Administration's big-spending economic policies.

Organisers expect there will be at least 600 such events in towns and cities throughout the nation and are forecasting tens of thousands will attend some of the larger ones in major cities such as Chicago.

The tea party theme is a nod to the Boston Tea Party of 1773 when outraged colonists threw tea into the harbour to protest the tax on it imposed by their English overlords. It is regarded as the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War. >>> Anne Davies Herald Correspondent in Washington | Thursday, April 16, 2009

G20 Protests: Rioters Loot RBS as Demonstrations Turn Violent
THE TELEGRAPH: G20 summit protesters looted a City office of Royal Bank of Scotland this afternoon, as a largely peaceful demonstration spilled over into bloody violence in the centre of London.

G20 violence. RBS windows smashed.
A small number of demonstrators forced their way into the building on Threadneedle Street near the Bank of England after smashing windows and throwing smoke grenades.

Hundreds of protesters cheered as office equipment including a printer was carried out of the building – which is believed to have been empty – before riot police wielding batons managed to force the crowds back.

The rampage inside RBS will raise questions about the effectiveness of the £7.2 million security operation. The bailed-out bank was known to be a target of anti-capitalist groups in advance of the protests, but police efforts had concentrated on defending its headquarters on Bishopsgate in Liverpool Street, around half a mile away.

Twenty-three people were arrested as protesters clashed with police around the Bank of England, which was the focus of today's anti-capitalist and anarchist demonstrations. >>> | Wednesday, April 1, 2009

TELEGRAPH picture gallery: G20: Protests turn violent >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Oil Workers Protest Against Jobs for Foreigners
THE TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of factory workers protested outside one of the country's largest oil refineries against the use of foreign workers on a multi million pound construction project.

Humberside Police said around 800 people took part in the demonstration outside the giant Lindsey Oil Refinery at North Killingholme, Lincs.

The actions of the workers could spark more protests around the country as the jobless total rises towards two million during the economic downturn and anger mounts against the Government.

Some protesters carried placards repeating Gordon Brown's slogan 'British jobs for British workers'.

Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite, called for urgent meetings with the Government and employers to discuss the "exclusion" of UK workers from some of Britain's major engineering and construction projects.

"We have a growing problem in the engineering and construction industry where UK workers are being excluded from important projects.

The Government must take urgent action to deal with this situation as tensions are reaching boiling point. >>> By Nick Britten | Friday, January, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Wildcat Strikes Over Foreign Workers Spread Across Britain

Wildcat strikes spread to oil refineries across Britain this morning as workers walked out in sympathy with industrial action taken against the arrival of hundreds of foreign contractors.

Around 700 staff walked out of the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland and 400 more staged an unofficial strike at a refinery in Wilton, Teesside as workers lent their support to a three-day strike at the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire.

Staff at the refinery in North Killingholme began their wildcat strike on Wednesday in protest at the arrival of 200 Italian and Portuguese staff who were awarded a large construction contract.

There were also signs of the protest spreading to Wales this morning, police were called to Aberthaw power station near Barry after a protest was staged there.

Hundreds of angry protesters are calling on the government to intervene to guarantee jobs for British workers. One of the men on the picket line outside the Lindsey refinery told BBC television this morning that local families were struggling to feed their families while work was given to European workers. >>> Nico Hines and Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor | Friday, January 30, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Iran: Italian Fashion Store Attacked by Protesters
ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Tehran - A branch of the Italian clothing retailer Benetton was set on fire in Iran amid angry protests against the Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip, media reports said on Wednesday.

According to the conservative Iranian daily, Jomhuri Eslami, the shop in Dowlat Street, in the north of the capital Tehran, had been attacked by protesters on Tuesday.

Benetton is said to be "linked with the Zionist network," a government newspaper said.

Several Benetton stores have opened in the past two years in Iran, where global brands have largely been absent since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Last year a group of prominent MPs protested against Benetton's presence in Iran, alleging that it was owned by a "Zionist millionaire" and that its fashions were a bad influence on female consumers. [Source: AKI] | Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Greeks Protest Government Crackdown on Gay Marriage
REUTERS AFRICA: ATHENS (Reuters Life!) - Dozens of gays and lesbians protested outside parliament on Monday against the conservative government's attempt to overturn Greece's first same-sex marriages. Waving banners reading "These Weddings Are Valid", dozens of homosexual couples gathered in central Athens ahead of a court ruling due this week on the two marriages celebrated on the tiny Aegean island of Tilos in June.

The Justice Ministry has filed a legal suit to overturn the union of one gay and one lesbian couple after they took advantage of a loophole in Greek civil law that fails to specify gender in matrimony. Greeks Protest Government Crackdown on Gay Marriage >>> ©Reuters | September 29, 2008-09-30

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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More Protests in Pakistan Against Fitna
AFP: KARACHI — Thousands of Islamists rallied in southern Pakistan Saturday to condemn an anti-Koran film by a Dutch lawmaker and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers, witnesses said.

About 4,000 supporters of a conservative Islamic movement marched in the southern port city of Karachi demanding that Islamabad cut diplomatic ties with Denmark and The Netherlands.

"We are ready to lay our lives to protect the honour of our great prophet," the emotional crowd shouted as speakers demanded the government snap ties with the two European nations. Pakistanis Protest Dutch Anti-Koran Film >>> | May 3, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Destroy Salman Rushdie! Destroy Britain! Hardliners Chant in Protest in Malaysia
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE – KUALA LUMPUR: Protests against the award of a British knighthood to Salman Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" outraged Muslims, spread from Pakistan, Iran and the Taliban movement to Malaysia on Wednesday.

Supporters of Malaysia's hard-line Islamic party protested near the British Embassy, chanting "Destroy Salman Rushdie" and "Destroy Britain."

Some 30 members of the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia urged Britain to withdraw the honor or risk the consequences.
"This has tainted the whole knighthood, the whole hall of fame of the British system," Hatta Ramli, the party treasurer, said after the group handed a protest note to embassy officials.

"The British government must be responsible because it has created a sudden feeling of anger not just on Salman Rushdie but on the British government," he said. "They have to bear the consequences." Protests spread to Malaysia over knighthood for Salman Rushdie (more)

NDTV.COM:
Bounty of 80,000 pounds on Rushdie's head

Mark Alexander

Anti-Gay Protests in Rome
ROME (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome on Saturday for a rally to protest against a proposed law that would give greater rights to unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians.

The draft legislation, which requires parliamentary approval, has divided Italy's ruling coalition, angered the Catholic Church and roused passionate debate in the country. Thousands rally in Rome against gay rights law (more)

Hunderttausende demonstrieren in Rom für traditionelle Ehe

Mark Alexander