Violence in Iran

[rezatayebi]

Six month ago the people of iran participated in an election to vote against Ahmadinejad.
In less than 24 hours after the election, state TV and some websites called him the elected president of iran with 24 million votes :confused:.

We went to streets and protested against fraud election. Police started beating us. They arrested many people. I was arrested 3 times during and after the election. But we kept fighting.


But now it`s getting very very ugly and brutal. phone lines are controlled so I can`t talk with my friends over the phone. SMS is usually blocked. Internet speed has become very slow. Sometimes I can`t even check my email. Emails are being controlled. So I can`t send an email to my friends and write to them what`s happening. Youtube, facebook, twitter, cnn, bbc ... are blocked. They even blocked google translate today!

I`m using a proxy (tor. vidalia) to have access to youtube. but it`s dangerous for people like me who are in Iran to email the links of videos . So I hope you do that and let others know what unthinkable crimes are happening. These are links of some videos shot on sunday.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAaPnAQDHhU&feature=youtu.be&a
(police vehicles driving into crowds of protesters and running over them. extremely graphic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0LXlKSibtI&feature=player_embedded
(The man behind camera is shouting "They ran over him three times. Police ran over him three times. Police vehicle.Police vehicle. oh god. oh god. They killed people. they killed people. " extremely graphic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwQzdUZoje0&feature=related
(someone got shot in the head. extremely graphic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGMccZtabM
(police attacking the protesters)

you can find a lot more videos on youtube.

[sysiphus]

Thanks for your post--I wish there was something we could do over here (in the West) to help! Good luck and stay safe over there :)

[leekohler]

OP- please be very careful over there! There are many of us over here thinking of you and hoping things get resolved sooner, rather than later.

Stay safe.

[skunk]

Thank you for posting. Be careful.

[IntheNet]

We went to streets and protested against fraud election. Police started beating us. They arrested many people. I was arrested 3 times during and after the election. But we kept fighting.

Thanks for the videos... know that over here we Americans pray for you and hope that somehow situation in Iran improves! We also pray that our own leader decides to help you and your citizens...

Thanks for posting and echoing the sentiment herein... be careful!!!

[Dont Hurt Me]

Once a dictator grabs a country its not very easy to get rid of him because then he controls everything including elections if there are any, I wish there was more we could do to give support to those in Iran who want real democracy. Everyone knows those elections were fraud. His path isnt a smart one and would bet he will have the same fate as Saddam sooner or later. Stay vigilant and know that those who crave power hate free will,liberty and freedom for others. This defect in man repeats itself in history over and over and over, its sickening how man does this. Prey and be safe and be careful and know that the west is watching this dictator with great interest.

[twistedlegato]

I have family in Iran (my dad's side). I can't help but to constantly worry about them. They do live in a more-so safe area of the country, but it still can be frightening :(

[TSE]

Scary videos. Good luck. Just know power usually breeds corruption.

[chordate68]

Thanks for the update. Keep your chin up and keep fighting for change.

[grotesque22]

i i live in iran (tehran)
we FIGHT till last breath

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Be safe, OP. Keep fighting, but be safe.

[SchneiderMan]

That damn iranian leader is a devil..

This is really crazy what's happening to people over there, this could happen here too.
The government is killing people (that is not something new) but it should stop and America should do something about it like they do in iraq..
Btw protesters in L.A have never stopped protesting and still are on the streets right where UCLA is..

They don't even have intensions of not harming people and using live ammunition instead of rubber bullets that every riot control all over the world has even Israel.
They even banned news reporters from coming into iran.

[Surely]

Good luck to all the protestors.

Hopefully the new year will bring real political change to Iran.

I hope these deaths won't be in vain.

I see the protestors in Los Angeles every day at the corner of Wilshire and Veteran Aves...... they haven't really stopped since this all began.

[TSE]

Schneiderman, I think the last thing Iran needs is outside influence. Let them settle this on their own and let the US stop being the world police.

It is better for everyone in the long run.

[SchneiderMan]

But the true fact is that the US is the world police.. Most of the time it is a good thing.

[leekohler]

But the true fact is that the US is the world police.. Most of the time it is a good thing.

It's never a good thing unless requested.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

But the true fact is that the US is the world police.. Most of the time it is a good thing.

It's never a good thing unless requested.
QFT

We need to stop trying to control the world.

[skunk]

The government is killing people (that is not something new) but it should stop and America should do something about it like they do in iraq.What, like sending in the B52s, launching a ground invasion with a group of witless sycophants, and causing the deaths of a few more hundreds of thousands?
1 You can't afford it
2 It's none of your business
3 Whatever is going on there will resolve itself in due course

[adder7712]

May god be with you...

You better be careful, they are watching the internet.

[Eraserhead]

Schneiderman, I think the last thing Iran needs is outside influence.

The US getting involved would make it worse.

[StruckANerve]

But the true fact is that the US is the world police.. Most of the time it is a good thing.

It's never a good thing. We are now ridiculed at every step. Because we tried to help poorer countries everything bad that happens anywhere in the world is now somehow our problem. We have our own problems here. To the OP keep up the fight.

[rasmasyean]

QFT

We need to stop trying to control the world.

LOL World Police…phht. That’s just “knight in shining armor” political ramble. There are lots of places that need “policing” that the US doesn’t do anything about. Every country has its own problems to be dealt with first.

The truth is that Iran has meddled in the Iraqi insurgency. It is also a long time enemy of the US. Now of course, since Iraqis’ are rich (oil), the US (AND the world) cares a lot about policing for them. So this will get much worse before it gets better. Don’t be surprised if a “US influenced” invasion into Iran to finish off this regime happens. We know that it’s already planned and rehearsed as a “contingency scenario”. Someone just has to sign the paper.

Maybe this whole fiasco was even engineered by spies. Not to mention that Iran has oil too…that some Iraqis’ think is theirs to boot.

What is one big ticket item that Iraqis’ are buying with their far from-peak-production oil farms right now? US arms! Uh…I wonder why they need so many?

So either hide and hope you don’t become a statistic…or pick a side and prepare for a “revolution”. ;)

[Burnsey]

A lot of you are either unaware of or simply underestimate the huge amount of support this regime has among the Iranian people, support that far outnumbers and outweighs much of the opposition movement. It should also be obvious that this issue is something that needs to be resolved by the Iranian people without any outside influence. Change will only come if a large enough number of people demand it, and it will come gradually and cannot be rapidly imposed by a foreign power that barely understands what it's attempting to change.

[Peterkro]

A lot of you are either unaware of or simply underestimate the huge amount of support this regime has among the Iranian people, support that far outnumbers and outweighs much of the opposition movement. It should also be obvious that this issue is something that needs to be resolved by the Iranian people without any outside influence. Change will only come if a large enough number of people demand it, and it will come gradually and cannot be rapidly imposed by a foreign power that barely understands what it's attempting to change.

Very true,a point sometimes overlooked is that the Iranian "opposition" is every bit as authoritarian and vile as those presently in power.

[Burnsey]

Very true,a point sometimes overlooked is that the Iranian "opposition" is every bit as authoritarian and vile as those presently in power.

It's not like the protesters have been entirely peaceful, damaging private and public property (from shops to homes to banks), looting ATM machines, burning public vehicles, police cars, motorcycles, power stations, injuring bystanders etc... If this were to happen in any country obviously riot police are going to be sent in and people are going to get arrested. It's not like Canada, the US, Britain or any other country would simply let such dissent happen in the name of "Freedom of expression".

[Hmac]

I'm not sure why I should care about the violence in Iran, but I'd appreciate being educated about it.

While I understand and support throwing off a repressive government, it seems to me that whichever Iranian faction comes out on top, they'll still be burning the flag of the "Great Satan" United States in the streets, and Israel certainly seems none the safer from nuclear holocaust. Sponsorship of worldwide terrorism seems unlikely to decrease whichever totalitarian regime is running the country.

What am I missing here?

[EMKoper]

I feel the 'response' of the current US administration has been pretty luke-warm and somewhat weak given the situation ... I wish the response was stronger in both words and action rallying world opinion and setting the stage for action of some sort in the future to ensure this doesn't happen again -- these horrid events are somewhat compounded by the nuclear debate where the 'world' has given them a deadline and the Iranian leadership responded with a 'deadline' of their own to accept their counter-offer which is as absolute joke! I understand every state is a sovereign nation, but some 'useful' negotiation from the Iranian leadership would be beneficial and not reveal that which may be their true intention to arm-up as much and fast as possible rather than moving toward sensible civilian nuke program needs faster with the current proposal that they would on their own! Their approach, I think, has revealed their true intentions to 'arm-up' and the current political geniuses has shown that to the world (is that a win for Obama?)

Though I am conservative, I wish the last administration had done more in the public eye and international stage as well, but they used too much 'military capital' around the world (both in military material/people/equipment as well as apparent world opinion) and the US couldn't back up any strong rhetoric at the time with any deterrent or real threat of force because of that (and Iran and NK took advantage of this ... that is clear ... both are arming and continuing to advance the mostasymmetric threat possible given their situation (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RS22758.pdf) -- perfecting Tactical Ballistic Missiles over the past 3 years). If Obama is 'actually' buying back US international 'good will' and standing, why wouldn't he use some of it here to make a difference where it really counts ...

So, what would I like to see.. how about some real action by this current US administration and gain some useful international support to help this cause as well as dissuade the nuke weapon development clearly going on .. I 100% feel people getting run over by cars for standing up and just 'speaking' their feelings is more important than bailouts, US healthcare, or global warming agendas both for the sake of the word and US security!

[Burnsey]

I feel the 'response' of the current US administration has been pretty luke-warm and somewhat weak given the situation ... I wish the response was stronger in both words and action rallying world opinion and setting the stage for action of some sort in the future to ensure this doesn't happen again -- these horrid events are somewhat compounded by the nuclear debate where the 'world' has given them a deadline and the Iranian leadership responded with a 'deadline' of their own to accept their counter-offer which is as absolute joke! I understand every state is a sovereign nation, but some 'useful' negotiation from the Iranian leadership would be beneficial and not reveal that which may be their true intention to arm-up as much and fast as possible rather than moving toward sensible civilian nuke program needs faster with the current proposal that they would on their own! Their approach, I think, has revealed their true intentions to 'arm-up' and the current political geniuses has shown that to the world (is that a win for Obama?)

Though I am conservative, I wish the last administration had done more in the public eye and international stage as well, but they used too much 'military capital' around the world (both in military material/people/equipment as well as apparent world opinion) and the US couldn't back up any strong rhetoric at the time with any deterrent or real threat of force because of that (and Iran and NK took advantage of this ... that is clear ... both are arming and continuing to advance the mostasymmetric threat possible given their situation (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RS22758.pdf) -- perfecting Tactical Ballistic Missiles over the past 3 years). If Obama is 'actually' buying back US international 'good will' and standing, why wouldn't he use some of it here to make a difference where it really counts ...

So, what would I like to see.. how about some real action by this current US administration and gain some useful international support to help this cause as well as dissuade the nuke weapon development clearly going on .. I 100% feel people getting run over by cars for standing up and just 'speaking' their feelings is more important than bailouts, US healthcare, or global warming agendas both for the sake of the word and US security!

You have absolutely zero idea what is going on.

[Zombie Acorn]

We do not need to be involved in another country, if they start to build nuclear weapons I am all for an international response, but otherwise let it work itself out. I definitely don't agree with the actions the government has taken against protesters though.