Marin Forum

I will be updated this entry to the best of my ability with the latest aggregated news coming out of Iran. The Lede from the New York Times has been an incredible source of aggregated news and I will draw heavily on that. Twitter, however, has become the best source for information. I am currently monitoring the Twitter feeds (#iranelection). It’s hard to get completely reliable information as rumors are common and the Iranian government is spreading false information. Also the foreign press has been banned from covering the street protests. I will update this entry continuously so just refresh the page to get updates and all times are Pacific.

4:00pm I point you to this blog entry because it raises an interesting and sad point. For the past week and a half the twitter account, persiankiwi, has been the best and most reliable source of information coming out of Iran. Today his/her/their account went silent sometime in the late evening Tehran time. The last posts suggest a desperate situation.

rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users – must move from here now -

phone line was cut and we lost internet  – getting more difficult to log into net -

we must go – dont know when we can get internet – they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names – now we must move fast

The entries from this account from today paint a horrifying picture of what the situation is currently like in Tehran. Yet, this one twitter account when looked at over the past week and a half tells the story of what happened in Iran. The first entries are ones of distrust and betrayal. Quickly they turn into excitment as the opposition takes tothe steet in the million plus rallies. There are detailed bits of information from around the country. They are also filled with mourning as protesters are killed. Meanwhile, the quick responses always suggest a sense of urgency and a need to constantly be on the run. Everything changes on Saturday. Horror sets in and there’s a feeling of desperation. Some of the messages are almost messianic claiming that Rafsanjani will soon step in and everything will be fine. But never is there any thought of giving up. Then today the messages are beyond horror. The reports become gruesome.

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher – Allah Akbar

The accounts of abomination turn into dread especially with the message that the phone line and internet had been cut. There’s a sense that he/she/they are being tracked and are running out of places to hide. The finally two messages are almost a farewell and an acceptance of what is about to come:

thank you ppls 4 supporting Sea of Green – pls remember always our martyrs – Allah Akbar – Allah Akbar – Allah Akbar

Allah – you are the creator of all and all must return to you – Allah Akbar – Sea of Green

And then there is silence. We can’t say what happened; perhaps he/she/they are in hiding but the impression is that the security forces finally caught up. Horror, terror, dread. To the outside world the twitter account of persiankiwi is the heart, soul, and narrative of the opposition.

3:54pm The Lede points to some eyewitness reports from today that completely contradict other reports.

I was there from 5:15 to 7:30. It was very tense. Being out in Baharstan was an act of defiance. No one said anything, there were only a few chants coming from outside the square. Although the police were a lot nicer, the Basij continued to be brutal. No one was allowed to stand in one place, we had to keep on moving. The moment we stood in one place, they would break us up. I saw many people get blindfolded and arrested, however it wasn’t a massacre. I heard that someone was killed, however I didn’t see it.

It seems odd that there would be discrepencies on the level of violence. The above account paints a picture similar to several of the attempted protests yesterday. The other accounts suggest that a massacre took place. Most accounts say they saw people die or be very severely beaten to the point of death. How can this account say he didn’t witness a single death? Furthermore, he makes no mention of any gunshots. All the other accounts mention gunshots and “firing into the crowd.” Since we can’t get any confirmation or images it’s extremely difficult to tell what exactly happened. Perhaps it wasn’t a “masscre,” but to say people were only beaten and arrested seems a little fishy.

12:33pm There are still no pictures or videos from Baharestan Square where the protest was supposed to occur. Considering the scale of the violence and the difficulty to transmit information now it seems unlikely that any  video will emerge soon. However, all the eyewitness accounts point to extreme violence. The security forces seemed to have changed their strategy today. Up until yesterday they mainly attempted to contain any protesters and prevent any protest from gaining critical mass. Today they seemed to be clearly hunting down any protesters. The helicopters were used to track protesters so that they could be hunted down by militia on foot. The demonstrations may be smaller now but they are not going away. It seems now the only person who can stop the violence is Rafsanjani but he has essentially been invisible for the past week. When will he intervene? How much longer can the moderate clerics stand on the sideline?

12:31pm This was posted on the Lede about how Neda’s family had been evicted from their home and now there there is strong militia presence in the neighborhood.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.

“We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat,” a neighbour said. The Guardian was unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave. [...]

Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household with her father and mother screaming, neighbours not only from their building but from others in the area streamed out to protest at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They arrived as soon as they found out that a friend of Soltan had come to the family flat.

In accordance with Persian tradition, the family had put up a mourning announcement and attached a black banner to the building.

But the police took them down, refusing to allow the family to show any signs of mourning. The next day they were ordered to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest.

A tearful middle-aged woman who was an immediate neighbour said her family had not slept for days because of the oppressive presence of the Basij militia, out in force in the area harassing people since Soltan’s death.

9:15am Defeated candidate Karoubi has called the Iranian government illegitimate. There are reports that that Mousavi and Karoubi are now under arrest but these cannot be confirmed and could be scare tactics. However, we do know that Mousavi has been under increased pressure and most likely has security forces monitoring his every move.

9:11am This is an account of what happened at the rally today (this from a very reliable twitter source):

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads – blood everywhere – pepper gas like war

they were waiting for us – they all have guns and riot uniforms – it was like a mouse trap – ppl being shot like animals

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground – she had no defense nothing – sure that she is dead

so many ppl arrested – young & old – they take ppl away – we lose our group

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting – from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys

all shops was closed – nowhere to go – they follow ppls with helicopters – smoke and fire is everywhere

Another eyewitness report:

Defying government warnings, the witnesses said that hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas, and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck.

9:09am This video shows some of the indiscriminate violence being used by security forces. We cannot confirm if this was from today.

9:07am Here is a video from what is supposedly today.

9:02am Today’s rally did go ahead but it was quickly met by security forces. We are still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but current accounts report to an extremely brutal reaction by security forces. It has been confirmed that security forces severely beat any protesters and shots were fired. What can’t be confirmed yet is if only a few shots were fired or if security forces indiscriminately opened fire into the protesters. What ever happened it was really bad.

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