Iran - Most Staggering Footage Yet - Police Suddenly Turn Tail & Run!

[kpete]

The Most Staggering Footage Yet

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

And I've seen a lot. Just watch this pitched battle in the streets between a crowd and the riot police (via BBC Farsi). And watch it to the very end, as the police suddenly turn tail and run. Yes, you can hear the shouts 'Hurrah!" and I confess I found myself yelling it at my lap-top as well. Let us hope this is a microcosm of the whole thing. Faced with so many with such determination, the will of the regime will crumble.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090621_ag_street_clashes.shtml
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-most-staggering-footage-yet.html

[tsuki]

1. Same two sites that I have been haunting. K&R.

[Warpy]

2. When people on the balconies stop filming and start throwing stuff

it will mark the transition between unrest and revolution.

The film was amazing, if only for the sounds of all the crap hitting the building, the occasional breaking window. Rocks are great weapons if enough people are hurling them.

Some of those Persians are ready for the major league.

[tblue37]

12. It seemed bizarre to me that the police were also throwing rocks.

That seems to be the weapon of demonstrators, not of the police. I am guessing that the cops were so pissed off they couldn't contain themselves.

[Warpy]

16. That was my guess, too

I don't think they're all armed with guns, it's batons and pepper spray for most of them.

[DLnyc]

17. I think they were throwing teargas canisters.

The weight and arc imply canisters, not rocks.

[Posteritatis]

18. And the lack of tear gas implies rocks (nt)

[DLnyc]

21. On second look, I think you are right.

There were what looked like puffs of smoke, but on a second look those seem to just be rocks hitting the pavement.

[Posteritatis]

19. Or afraid to close

If they didn't have tear gas or anything else ranged, their options were pretty much throwing stuff back at the protestors or closing with the batons. In their position I'd choose to throw stuff. It'd be a terrible position for doing the standard shield-wall thing even if they did have enough cops on site.

[WeDidIt]

3. I remember the 1989 Romainian Revolution

The end came swiftly for Nicolae Ceauşescu after a similar event.

[ChiciB1]

4. THIS Is What We Need To Do To So Many Of OUR Leaders In D.C.!!

Yes, I said it!! MAKE OUT VOICES HEARD!!! Seems the Iranians feel stronger about what they BELIEVE in and are willing to stand up to their beliefs!!

They must be so very PROUD!! I know that they have a very young population taking over in Iran, and that MUST be at the core of what is going on! I'm ready to "pass the torch" from being in the trenches for so many years, but is OUR youth ready to take to the trenches!

Couldn't help myself here, I KNOW it's not about US, but it seems they have some real cohones and I'm glad to see this in action!! How can THIS COUNTRY think, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran???

[kpete]

5. if it did not happen here in 2000???

sad, kp

[ChiciB1]

6. Very, Very Sad... And I Ended Up With Katherine Harris As My Congressional

Representative! Got kicked all over the place!! Had a real Trifecta going for quite some time!! Bush The Idiot as Prez, his Bubba Jeb as Gov., and good old Cruella!!

I working on my 10,000 posts, sometimes wonder if I'll get there, but then... perhaps I MUST fade away!

[cabluedem]

22. We need to make the police scared of us. We need to disarm them now, IMO. NT

[cabluedem]

23. We need to make the police scared of us. We need to disarm them now, IMO. NT

[bleever]

7. That is very stirring.

And I found myself having some sympathy also for the police, insofar as their government has pitted them against their own people.

Here's hoping that no more people are killed.

[Posteritatis]

8. A lot of the cops seem to be mainly going through the motions

The numbers obviously mattered in that one clip - I'd run! - but quite a bit of what I'd seen and heard suggests a lot of police are basically going "don't do that! please?" and then backing down/off. Not all of them, of course, but it looks like for quite a few their hearts aren't in it.

[lpbk2713]

9. They'll just deploy three times as many club-wielders the next time.

But it's good when the good guys win now and then.

[liberalmuse]

10. To their credit, they weren't shooting at the protesters...

just throwing rocks from what I could tell, unlike the Basiji. :mad:

[mrbarber]

11. Yeah, the Baisiji are the scum of the universe.

I hope someone releases some video of a group of protesters chasing those cowards off. Hell, better yet, beating them with their shoes.

[Dogmudgeon]

14. The people are turning against the Basiji

It's in the news every day.

At one time, the Basiji were admired; they were held as kind of like the anti-Nazi Resistance.

These days, they are the target of slurs by day and hunted down and killed by night.

--d!

[Swede]

13. Here's a clip from inside the crowd

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090621_street_clash2.shtml

[Regret My New Name]

15. Were those rocks the police were throwing back?

[create.peace]

20. this is a good one from today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-OhQQZz_Oo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fgreenrevolutioniran.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

from same guy, he has a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baNrsURqIJo&feature=channel