Iran: Reports of military is helping protestors....(with upates)

Ok. From what I can gather so far... There have been some arrests and a few targeted (prominent dissidents/individuals) detentions and those same individuals have had their communications limited. Internet is still up as are other traditional forms of commo.

The "million" people out in Tehran claim seems to be wildly inflated based on info I can get... but here's to hoping I'm wrong.

Aljazeera

There are reports in social media sites and non-state Iranian news sites of clashes between protesters and security forces in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Thousands of demonstrators were marching on Monday on Enghelab and Azadi streets [which connect and create a straight path through the city centre], with a heavy presence in Enghelab Square and Vali-Asr Street, according to these reports.

Several clashes have been reported on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, with claims of some demonstrators being teargassed and others beaten and arrested.

Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, in Tehran, confirmed reports that security forces used tear gas, pepper spray and batons against the protesters.

She said up to 10,000 security forces had been deployed to prevent protesters from gathering at Azadi Square, where the marches, originating from various points in Tehran, were expected to converge.

.................

The AFP news agency reported that police fired paintball bullets on protesters. One video, posted on Youtube (claiming to be from Monday's protests) shows people chanting, "political prisoners must be freed" when a woman cries that tear gas has been deployed, dispersing the crowd.

On the Facebook page used to organise Monday's marches, there were also reports of shooting in or around Enghelab Square as well as demonstrations in the cities of Mashhad, Shiraz and Kermanshah.

Also posted on Twitter and Facebook were reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahrah Rahnavard, had joined one of the marches.

The other prominent opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, is still under house arrest.

Al Jazeera was unable to confirm whether Mousavi and Rahnavard joined the protest, and at last report, Kaleme.com, a pro-reformist website, said that security forces had prevented the couple from leaving their home.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Yes its trickling through in the UK now...

A BBC producer in the Iranian capital, who was affected by the gas, described central Tehran as "total chaos". He said "severe clashes" were taking place between protesters and police and there had been many arrests.

it will be hard to get news out with the internet and news blackout there are reports that they are blocking satalites too..


www.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by purplemer

This is all routine. What is not routine is there are unconfirmed reports coming in that the army are siding with the people on the streets. I hope to god this is true. The people of Iran live under an iron fist and have been messed about with for too long. It certainly is a possibility last year they arrested army officals ahead of the protests.
Iran has appaling civil rights. These protesters are brave, known activists are routinely hung. I hope the protests go well and peacefully and the people get what they want.

The problem is that Iran has the normal army as well as the revolutionary guards. The latter are very powerful and they're very closely connected to the regime. They also have their hands on many of Iran's commerce and as a result very wealthy. They will do all that they can to prevent another revolution.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Also now in the New York Times.....

www.nytimes.com...

The authorities had made no secret of their resolve to stop the march planned for today and to deny the protesters a permit to demonstrate. “These elements are fully aware of the illegal nature of the request,” Mehdi Alikhani Sadr, an Interior Ministry official, said in comments published Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. “They know they will not be granted permission for riots.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was blunt.

“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the corps, said Wednesday in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.”

reply to post by endlessknowledge


thank you for that i guess that might mean if the army helped the people than the forces would factionate and there would be fighting...
messy stuff not like egypt...

kx

reply to post by endlessknowledge


Analysis: Iran's Ahmadinejad ahead in political in-fighting

The article is from last year, and was around the time of the firt protests. The source is beforeitnews, but I have seen the same article in the MSM as well.

It talks about Ahmadinejad attempt to elevate the Ofice of the President to the same level as the Ayatollah. There has been serious disagreements between the two, with one incident having the Ayatollah ordering Ahmadinejad to recall his 6 roving amnbassadors who answered only to him.

The REvolutionary guard is suppose to be loyal to the Ayatollah, who appoints their top commanders. Ahmadinejad came up through the guard, and has a lot of support and loyalty among thier commanders as well.

If this kicks off, its going to be absolute chaos as people / groups try to figure out who is loyal to who.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Internal fighting between the revolutionary guard leaders might be the only chance Iranians will have of accomplishing a revolution. But it will take a lot to get the murderous regime to loosen its hold on the nation. Thousands will die before anything is achieved. I have to say, Iran would be one of the last places you would want to be protesting in, which goes to show the bravery of the people there.

Fire in the street iran..(just posted)

www.youtube.com...


breaking:

This is the Arab Youth Revolt against Patriarchy which i said will go beyond #Arabs to hit even #Iran and #Israel,the Cyber Generation

Some say they want to stay in squares like Egyptians, others are coming back tomorrow after 3pm.

azadi had many thousands, ppl being arrested put in big vans.

The People of Iran are calling for a legitimate Government Of the People By the People For the people

You might look in at enduringamerica.com The latest from Iran...25 Bahman. I haven't gotten to comments yet, but there appear to be quite a few.

www.enduringamerica.com...#


The Financial Times (London) and Tehran Bureau are reporting 100,000s of protesters.
Twitter has news & info on several tags. #iranelection, #GR88, & others. At the end of the tweets, anything prefixed by # is another thread (or whatever)

Please send them your prayers/ good thoughts/ energy according to your beliefs.

reply to post by all answers exist


Actually, Tunisia started it. Don't want to sound like a smart ass, I just believe in giving people credit for their work. In fact, whoever burnt themselves alive in Tunisia is what got it so much attention. Now let's see if this can spread to the states... Bankers aren't going to stop until their sheep stop working

Originally posted by SpreadLoveNotHate

Now let's see if this can spread to the states... Bankers aren't going to stop until their sheep stop working

It's happening in PA right now with mayor Linda Thompson. www.abovetopsecret.com... . I'm thinking this is conspiracy to show how democracy works. We can replace Linda Thompson peacefully and let Iran go to war over its system

I pray the Iranian people can overthrow their theocratic leadership. The 1979 revolution did nothing for Iran besides make the country a pariah in the world community. Freedom to dissent is a wonderful thing, and a government that is truly "Of, By, and For" the people is a God-given right. I hope they get one.

Factoid: Iran is the most "Westernized" of any Middle-eastern Islamic country; the citizenry actually likes the West. The people of Iran are by and large good and decent people - it's the government that must go.

today in iran... v for victory... and i wish them well for tonight in areas lights are out and security forces and beating protesters.... kx

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5a6ed6dacc85.jpg[/atsimg]

Sounds like all the people need is a couple hundred thousand AK's and ammunition.

Amazing what a couple hundred thousand pissed-off folks can do when armed.

PS. Europeans take note.

reply to post by purplemer


purplemer, Star and flag and a bump.

This is what the internet SHOULD be for. To get the news out that the bankster controlled media wants surpressed!

reply to post by FarArcher


God bless Iran!!!

Here is an RT reporting on protests in Iran. They mention the day before the U.S. started sending text messages to Iranians in arabic. Attempting to stir the pot. Some of the comments on the video disagree strongly with the man in the report saying the current Regime is popular and it's just a small number of people unhappy with the government.

I believe RT really shows their bias here, or a general Russian bias of Iran. Russia Today has just as much propaganda as Fox news, but they are willing to cover more topics or different aspects of a topic that U.S. MSM tends to not cover.

This won't be another Egypt.

I fear we're going to see a massacre.

Basijis beaten up by protesters.

www.youtube.com...