Iran

Revolution is painful, but revolution is necessary. This post will probably just end up being a dumping ground for all the information I find interesting with this civil unrest.



What follows will probably be reposts of the news reports coming from Iran. Please note that none of this information is being scrutinized by the media or any sources but their posters, but appears to be fairly accurate:

• Midday, 15th of June - This brings us to the third wave, which just began around 12:30PM for those of us on the East Coast. Plainclothes militia opened fire on civilians protesting peacefully. Possibly up to 2 million protesters took the street. Chaos erupted in the streets, with reports of fighting all over Tehran and spreading over Iran as the news circulated. Pictures of people shot, some to death, finally surfaced and were published in the mainstream media. Violent and murderous repression has started. At least a twenty people had been killed at this by the end of the 15th of June.
• Eventually, the people started to fight back. First, they took over and burned down a Basij base, killing its commander. Later, a Basij shot a young man in the face in front of their HQ, at which point a policeman went to confront them. The Basij beat the policeman, at which point students stormed the compound, throwing molotov cocktails, burning it to the ground.
• As for the Iranian Government and different branches, there are rumours that many Army Generals have been arrested for plotting a Coup d'État, but this is still speculation at this point. The Supreme Leader has also called for a 10-day inquiry into the claims of fraud, but it has been widely dismissed as cosmetic. Moussavi and his supporters have rejected this, claiming that they want new elections. Khameini is now using the armed Basij as his own bodyguards, hundreds of them are surround him and his residence to protect from attempted assassinations. Ahmadinejad himself is in Russia right now, for a planned visit, and tries to pretend that everything is good as usual.
• The Basij, surprisingly, did not attacking the march itself but rather assaulted dorms again. It looks like they are using the march as a diversion. In Tehran proper, 2000 Basij are waiting to storm the male dorm, and they are backed by IRG helicopters, which seems to send the message that the IRG has broken from their undeclared neutrality toward tacitly supporting the Regime.

Warning on this one. Basiji opening fire into a crowd on the street protesting outside of what appears to be a headquarters. Blood.



The first good news I've heard is that it's only the Basij - a paramilitary force that takes orders directly from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - and police organizations that are opening fire. Thus far, it's widely reported that the Iranian military is refusing to follow orders. The violence is growing to a fever pitch, but without support from the Iranian army forces, the regime will (hopefully) be forced to fold.

Rumor has it that certain military commanders and police force leaders have been detained for possible coup plans. There's definitely some dissent among the military, and we can only hope that they're the force that comes between the Basij/police force and the protesters and finally keeps people safe.

It was interesting that the special forces - who normally take the side of Ahmadinejad's Basij militia - were there with clubs and sticks in their camouflage trousers and their purity white shirts and on this occasion the Iranian military kept them away from Mousavi's men and women.

In fact at one point, Mousavi's supporters were shouting 'thank you, thank you' to the soldiers.

One woman went up to the special forces men, who normally are very brutal with Mr Mousavi's supporters, and said 'can you protect us from the Basij?' He said 'with God's help'.

Incredible.

For the record, though, I don't think American intervention is what needs to happen in this situation. Not everything is about making the rest of the world love us, nor is it about ignoring the rest of the world - interventionism in situations not falling into the "genocide" category should stop here and now. That said, westerners can and should support what they believe in in this situation. Supporting the Iranian protester movement for the sole reason that it might make Iran more friendly to the west, though, is missing the point.

Gigantic Protest in Naghshe Jahan Square