Iran's Mousavi urges more protests, gunfire heard

[TomClash]

Source: Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged his supporters on Sunday to continue their protests over a disputed presidential election, in a direct challenge to the leadership of the Islamic Republic. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Helicopters buzzed through the evening sky over Tehran and gunfire was heard in northern Tehran, a bastion of support for the reformist former prime minister.

"Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your (Iranians) right," Mousavi said in a statement on his website.

"In your protests continue to show restraint. I am expecting armed forces to avoid irreversible damage," he added.

At least 10 people were killed in a crack down on protests on Saturday and Mousavi said the deaths, and the mass arrest of his supporters, would "create a rift between society and the country's armed forces."

<snip>

GUNFIRE

In pro-Mousavi districts of northern Tehran, supporters took to the rooftops after dusk to chant their defiance, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"I heard repeated shootings while people were chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) in Niavaran area," said a witness, who asked not to be named.

Another witness heard shooting in Zaferaniyeh district in the north of the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55F54520090621

[Turborama]

1. AJ English: Iran's Mousavi urges defiance

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the politician at the centre of Iran's opposition movement, has encouraged his followers to continue their protests over the presidential election.

In a statement on his website on Sunday, Mousavi said that people had the right to protest against "lies and fraud", but urged them to show restraint as they take to the streets.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent president, was declared the winner of the June 12 election with a landslide victory, but Mousavi and another challenger have complained that it was rigged.

Mousavi's statement appeared on the website of his Kalameh newspaper as reports emerged of police attacking a vigil by about 100 people outside the offices of the United Nations in Tehran.

Continues: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009621191831403557.html

[scarletwoman]

2. Where is he? Shouldn't he be out on the streets risking his life like the protesters are? (nt)

[MADem]

8. No. If he dies, so does this revolution. He needs to stay safe. NT

[JI7]

9. i doubt he is totally safe, they know where he is but killing him is something they can't do

at least not yet. they probably are thinking of ways to do it though to make it look like it was hit fault.

[MADem]

10. If he's smart, he and the missus would be moving around like Saddam

after the shit hit the fan.

[ohio2007]

3. "Ahmadinejad Supporters " being pushed back by an 'unruley mob'

just a 2 1/2 min video of the under equipped thugs throwing rocks back at protesters. You can hear the rocks crashing into the overhead pedestrian bridge and the final retreat of the basij troops.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090621_ag_street_clashes.shtml

looks like a well timed "rock barrage" covering a massive mob advance. The people on the bridge probably aided the mob also with their overhead banging and yelling "Hurrah" !

[Adsos Letter]

4. Iran's Mousavi defiantly urges more protests

Source: Reuters

By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl Parisa Hafezi And Fredrik Dahl – 1 hr 20 mins ago
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to stage more protests over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a direct challenge to the Islamic Republic's leadership.

(EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)

Mousavi made a veiled appeal to the security forces to show restraint in handling demonstrations -- a move likely to be viewed with deep suspicion by a conservative leadership that has vowed to use force wherever necessary to quell opposition.

Helicopters buzzed through the evening sky over Tehran on Sunday and gunfire was heard in the north of the city, a bastion of support for the reformist former prime minister.

But state radio said on Monday that the capital had been calm overnight for the first time since the June 12 election.

"Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your right," Mousavi, who came a distant second to Ahmadinejad in the poll, said in a statement on his website late on Sunday.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090622/ts_nm/us_iran_election

[MADem]

5. The Security Forces aren't stupid.

If they don't remember, personally, what happened thirty years ago, they learned it in school.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see which way the wind is blowing.

Don't believe state radio, or that bullshit "PRESS" TV. It's all propaganda. Believe the film that comes out, and the verified accounts from sources within the country.

If the government had their way, they'd be telling us no one died and only twenty people showed up to demonstrate.

[JI7]

6. what if they think they are doing it for God

[MADem]

7. Any Muslim who intentionally kills another Muslim shall be put to death.

That was the rather ironic verse that was plastered over the hanged bodies of a bunch of Shah loyalists in the early months of the Khomeini regime.

There are too many Koran quotations that have been thrown around of late for them to believe they're doing it for God or the Prophet/peace be upon him. The Baseeji are another story. And those imported thugs, they're probably looking for a payday, or they're paying back for all those rockets that Khameini gave them for their little war with Israel.

If they decide to start cracking heads, they'll be doing it out of fear or for a big payday. I don't think many of them are feeling good about this entire turn of events. They know, in their hearts, what happened. Everyone knows. Khameini stole the election for Ahmadi. He told the Ministry what the result would be. He got caught doing it, too, because he's a stupid little old bully who in a fit of pique and pettiness, just couldn't work with his old adversary Mousavi. And people are calling for the Supreme Leader's head because they realize he's not infallible, he's simply a pampered old fraud.

Time for change.