At Least Ten Killed in Iran Protests -Robert F. Worth & Nazila Fathi
Police officers in Iran opened fire into crowds of protesters, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and opposition Web sites said.
One of the dead was Ali Moussavi, a 43-year-old nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, who appears to have been assassinated in a political gesture aimed at his uncle.
In some parts of Tehran, protesters pushed the police back, hurling rocks and capturing several police cars and motorcycles, which they set on fire. [P]rotesters attack[ed] Basij militia.
Several police officers walk[ed] away from the melee, as protesters pat[ted] them on the back in appreciation. The turmoil revealed an opposition movement that is becoming bolder and more direct in its challenge to Iran's governing authorities.
(New York Times)
Report: Iran Police Refuse to Shoot Protestors
An Iranian opposition website said police forces refused orders to shoot at pro-reform protesters during clashes in Tehran.
"Police forces are refusing their commanders' orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran...some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," the website said.
(Reuters)
Iran Unrest Isn't a Riot, It's an Earthquake -Zvi Bar'el
The latest events are best described as further symptoms of an ongoing earthquake. Street protests have refused to abate for nearly half a year. The longer the demonstrations go on, the clearer it becomes that they're not aimed only at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
(Ha'aretz)
Iranian Regime on the Defensive -Ulrike Putz
Eyewitnesses reported that many Iranians who could be recognized by their clothing as devout Muslims could be seen among the protesters in Tehran. Even conservative woman covered in the chador were chanting for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to stand down.
The pictures and amateur videos coming out of Iran via the Internet this time showed demonstrators chasing, seizing and beating up police. There were also pictures of uniformed men who had changed sides, being carried by demonstrators on their shoulders and waving the green ribbons that have come to symbolize the protest movement. As they marched through the streets of Tehran, thousands cried: "We will fight, we will die, we will reconquer our country."
(Der Spiegel-Germany)
Fierce Repression Suggests Regime Fears for its Future
The massive and violent demonstrations that engulfed Tehran and other cities on Dec. 26-27 suggested that repression only deepens and broadens the opposition.
The government's tactics, along with Khamenei's silence and the increasingly ungloved intervention of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite military corps that commands the plain-clothes basij militia used for crowd control, may reflect a growing sense of desperation.
(Economist-UK)
Iranian Protest Is Grassroots and Unstoppable -Martin Fletcher
Iran's panicking regime is once again seeking to suppress the Green Movement by decapitating it. But decapitation will not work because the opposition is a bottom-up movement. It is a massive campaign of civil disobedience.
Protests are now common not just in Tehran, but in conservative cities such as Mashad and Qom.
(Times-UK)
In the Face of Protests, Iran's Leaders Are at an Impasse -Ray Takeyh
The mayhem that has swept over Iran in the past few days is once more calling into question the Islamic Republic's longevity. Recent events are eerily reminiscent of the revolution that displaced the monarchy in 1979.
The most remarkable aspect about the events in Iran has been the opposition's ability to sustain itself and to generate vast rallies while deprived of a national organizational network, a well-articulated ideology and charismatic leaders.
The Obama administration should challenge the legitimacy of the theocratic state and highlight its human rights abuses.
(Washington Post)
Why the Mullahs Are Vulnerable -Con Coughlin
Iran's mounting international isolation over its nuclear program was one of the issues that encouraged the anti-government protesters to take to the streets in the first place.
(Wall Street Journal)
*
Police officers in Iran opened fire into crowds of protesters, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and opposition Web sites said.
One of the dead was Ali Moussavi, a 43-year-old nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, who appears to have been assassinated in a political gesture aimed at his uncle.
In some parts of Tehran, protesters pushed the police back, hurling rocks and capturing several police cars and motorcycles, which they set on fire. [P]rotesters attack[ed] Basij militia.
Several police officers walk[ed] away from the melee, as protesters pat[ted] them on the back in appreciation. The turmoil revealed an opposition movement that is becoming bolder and more direct in its challenge to Iran's governing authorities.
(New York Times)
Report: Iran Police Refuse to Shoot Protestors
An Iranian opposition website said police forces refused orders to shoot at pro-reform protesters during clashes in Tehran.
"Police forces are refusing their commanders' orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran...some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," the website said.
(Reuters)
Iran Unrest Isn't a Riot, It's an Earthquake -Zvi Bar'el
The latest events are best described as further symptoms of an ongoing earthquake. Street protests have refused to abate for nearly half a year. The longer the demonstrations go on, the clearer it becomes that they're not aimed only at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
(Ha'aretz)
Iranian Regime on the Defensive -Ulrike Putz
Eyewitnesses reported that many Iranians who could be recognized by their clothing as devout Muslims could be seen among the protesters in Tehran. Even conservative woman covered in the chador were chanting for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to stand down.
The pictures and amateur videos coming out of Iran via the Internet this time showed demonstrators chasing, seizing and beating up police. There were also pictures of uniformed men who had changed sides, being carried by demonstrators on their shoulders and waving the green ribbons that have come to symbolize the protest movement. As they marched through the streets of Tehran, thousands cried: "We will fight, we will die, we will reconquer our country."
(Der Spiegel-Germany)
Fierce Repression Suggests Regime Fears for its Future
The massive and violent demonstrations that engulfed Tehran and other cities on Dec. 26-27 suggested that repression only deepens and broadens the opposition.
The government's tactics, along with Khamenei's silence and the increasingly ungloved intervention of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite military corps that commands the plain-clothes basij militia used for crowd control, may reflect a growing sense of desperation.
(Economist-UK)
Iranian Protest Is Grassroots and Unstoppable -Martin Fletcher
Iran's panicking regime is once again seeking to suppress the Green Movement by decapitating it. But decapitation will not work because the opposition is a bottom-up movement. It is a massive campaign of civil disobedience.
Protests are now common not just in Tehran, but in conservative cities such as Mashad and Qom.
(Times-UK)
In the Face of Protests, Iran's Leaders Are at an Impasse -Ray Takeyh
The mayhem that has swept over Iran in the past few days is once more calling into question the Islamic Republic's longevity. Recent events are eerily reminiscent of the revolution that displaced the monarchy in 1979.
The most remarkable aspect about the events in Iran has been the opposition's ability to sustain itself and to generate vast rallies while deprived of a national organizational network, a well-articulated ideology and charismatic leaders.
The Obama administration should challenge the legitimacy of the theocratic state and highlight its human rights abuses.
(Washington Post)
Why the Mullahs Are Vulnerable -Con Coughlin
Iran's mounting international isolation over its nuclear program was one of the issues that encouraged the anti-government protesters to take to the streets in the first place.
(Wall Street Journal)
*
No comments:
Post a Comment