Sunday, June 14, 2009

Iran on fire

There are conflicting reports from inside of Iran. Some sources claim there are 50-100 killed during the riots which is not so far fetched when you can gun shots in videos posted on the net. Shots heard being fired in streets of Tehran, mainly around the ministry of Interior building in Fatemi Square. The number of possible death of so many people might explain why the regime has all these journalists locked up and it might also explain why the communication network in Iran is shut off. They probably want to prevent the news from leaking out to the outside world.

From what I hear, the regime has cut off electricity to the city of Tehran. It's arrested around 30 reformist journalists and many of the reformist party chiefs are either under house arrest or detained by regime's security forces. As far as I know, the riots have spread to other major cities and towns in Iran. Shiraz, Isfahan, Babol, Tabriz and Kurdish towns in western Iran are centers of riots and anti-regime demonstrations. People keep chanting 'Death to Dictator'. Also what has made me very happy today was to see that people are now attacking police to get their detained friends back from the police custody. It seems people have now become more and more gutsy and this is a great thing to see. As long as people fear the system, the won't be able to challenge it in any way. The videos today proved to me that the image of the invincibility of this brutal regime is now shattered in the minds of people. This is a welcoming development.

What has surprised me so far is that the regime has not unleashed its own loyal Basiji militants yet. It may do so when the time is right but so far, it has not or I have not seen them in force in pictures and in reports from inside of Iran. My guts tell me, the regime has possibly made a big strategic miscalculation by denying Mousavi victory. Not that it mattered, since Mousavi or Ahmadinejad are part of the same brutal repressive system but dictatorships always fall because of minor mistakes they make. We'll see how this new series of anti-regime protests will be dealt with by the regime. It has certainly been digging its own grave for a long time. [MSNBC reports here]. 6 yrs ago in the same month, I was in middle of another student protest in Tehran myself. So now I'd like to wish all my fellow countrymen the best. Hope their efforts result in much needed change.
I'll keep you posted as things develop further in Iran.

Michael Ledeen has an excellent piece on the ongoing circus in Iran.

Tehran 24 has excellent photos

Updated @2pm ET on Jun 14: Radio Free Iran has more photos

7 comments:

Rosemary Welch said...

Rosemary's Thoughts says:

War For Peace Inside Iran?

It was reported that 70%+ of the people showed up to vote on June 12, 2009. Would that many people show up to vote for someone they do not like? Would they show up for the same-old same-old, or would they show up for change? That is why I believe Moussavi won...

PS. Let's hope this is the last time we get our hopes up. Let us pray for success. Let the regime fall. Quickly! Great post.

Rosemary Welch said...

BTW, not that I would, but what is this stuff about you kicking my WHAT? if I say something bad (which you know I would never do) about you? Hmm??? (j/k)

b@rdia said...

تعداد زیادی از استادان دانشگاه شریف در اعتراض به تقلب در انتخابات ریاست جمهوری استعفا دادند. این استادان با اعلام اینكه ننگ دارند از دولت احمدي نژاد حقوق بگیرند به تجمع دانشجویان دانشگاه شریف كه هم اكنون در حال برگزاری است پیوستند

آیت الله صافی گلپایگانی نسبت به کودتا هشدار داد. همچنین گفته می شود مهدی کروبی لباس روحانیت اش را به نشانه عزا از تن درآورده است

Jay said...

Winston: During most other regime changes, eventually the police and military joins with the protesters. Any chance this will happen in Iran?

Winston said...

@Jay

Anything is possible. The security forces will fight on as long as the regime appears powerful and in control. Once the regime looks shaky, then yes they may join the anti-regime people.

Bill Baar said...

Keep us updated Winston. We're depending on you.
thanks
Bill

Fariborz Shamshiri said...

Authorities arrested around 100 reformists.

Many protesters arrested too.