BBC: Police on Bikes Charge Protesters
Showing posts with label violent protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violent protests. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Watch Guardian video: Shocking pictures are emerging from inside Iran as people caught up in the violence post images on social networking sites. Warning: disturbing content >>> Source: YouTube & Twitter | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: As protesters marched through the thoroughfares of Tehran, much of the city went on an unofficial strike today. Shops opened their shutters only halfway, in defiance of the vote.
Four days after Mr Ahmadinejad claimed re-election, the powerful Guardian Council offered a partial recount of disputed ballot boxes in response to complaints of massive electoral fraud.
The move by the clerics on the country's highest legislative body appeared to be the first concession to the opposition after hundreds of thousands joined anti-government protests in recent days.
But many saw it as a ploy by the mullahs to buy time before their formal endorsement of Mr Ahmadinejad's victory. Mr Mousavi had asked the council of clerics to annul the election and re-run it, but they rejected that demand as impossible.
At least seven civilians were killed when members of the Basiji militia, a force of young Islamic hardliners, started shooting when their post came under attack during yesterday's mass rally.
State radio said that the building came under attack at the end of what it called an "illegal" demonstration.
"Some thugs in an organised and coordinated action attacked and vandalised a number of public and government buildings," it reported. "A military post was attacked with the intention of looting its weapons. Unfortunately, seven of our citizens were killed and a number of them injured."
The death toll may actually have been higher. A nurse at western Tehran’s Rasoul Akram hospital said that 28 people with "bullet wounds" had been brought in last night, of whom eight had died.
Mr Ahmadinejad showed his contempt for the protests by visiting the Russian city of Yekaterinburg for a regional summit, where his re-election was effectively endorsed not just by his hosts but other nations attending, including China, India and Pakistan. Iranians Suspicious of Recount Offer as Tehran Goes on Unofficial Strike >>> Philippe Naughton, and Tony Halpin in Yekaterinburg | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Seven people have died in clashes in Tehran after an "unauthorised gathering" following a mass rally over alleged election fraud, Iran's state radio reported.
The report said the seven died in shooting that erupted after several people in the west of the capital "tried to attack a military location" on Monday evening.
More than 100,000 opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had earlier marched through Tehran protesting at alleged vote rigging in last week's elections.The outpouring on to the streets was the greatest display of popular feeling since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The state radio report was the first official confirmation of the shooting in Tehran's Azadi Square. Witnesses saw at least one person shot dead and several others seriously wounded after shooting from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
To cries of "death to the dictator", Iranians had protested against President Ahmadinejad's proclaimed re-election.
The rally, larger than anything seen in the capital since the demonstrations that toppled Shah Reza Pahlavi 30 years ago, openly defied the authorities. The interior ministry had banned the rally and warned protesters that live ammunition could be used against them.
US President Barack Obama said the world was "inspired" by the Iranian demonstrators and that he was "deeply troubled" by post-election violence.
"The democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent - all those are universal values and need to be respected," he said. >>> By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Fisk witnesses the courage of one million protesters who ignored threats, guns and bloodshed to demand freedom in Iran
It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square – from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom – beneath the eyes of Tehran's brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their "President" as "dust".
Mirhossein Mousavi was among them, riding atop a car amid the exhaust smoke and heat, unsmiling, stunned, unaware that so epic a demonstration could blossom amid the hopelessness of Iran's post-election bloodshed. He may have officially lost last Friday's election, but yesterday was his electoral victory parade through the streets of his capital. It ended, inevitably, in gunfire and blood.
Not since the 1979 Iranian Revolution have massed protesters gathered in such numbers, or with such overwhelming popularity, through the boulevards of this torrid, despairing city. They jostled and pushed and crowded through narrow lanes to reach the main highway and then found riot police in steel helmets and batons lined on each side. The people ignored them all. And the cops, horribly outnumbered by these tens of thousands, smiled sheepishly and – to our astonishment – nodded their heads towards the men and women demanding freedom. Who would have believed the government had banned this march? >>> Robert Fisk | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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