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More than 110,000 people have now watched an amateur video (above) of a member of Iran’s security forces beating up a young man on a Tehran street on February 11, the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution.

RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari spoke with the young Iranian man who posted the video on YouTube. Twenty-three-year old Sam, who lives in Tehran, says he received the video clip via Bluetooth on February 11 and immediately decided to upload it on YouTube for the world to see.

RFE/RL: You didn’t videotape the scene yourself, but it was sent to you. Can you please explain how and by whom?

Sam: There were tight security measures on February 11, and if anyone looked a bit different, [security forces] would stop that person and ask him whether he or she was filming. They would also check people’s cell phones. There were many Basij militia members everywhere. When I went to Azadi Street, I saw lots of people, but there weren’t any [protests]. Basij and police cars were there, too. They stopped me and checked my mobile phone.

On the way back, someone sent me the video clip [of the beating] via Bluetooth. As you can see from the clip, the person who videotaped the scene was not on the street. It looks like it was done from a building. It’s short, though. I think because that person did not want to be identified. Go to Radio Free Europe.

New videos of 22 Bahman protests show a great number of opposition supporters, however, due to anti-riot police and Basij brutality, groups of protesters appear scattered around town many taking to side streets in the city to avoid Police presence.

New videos of 22 Bahman protests continue to emerge.  I think these videos show that the number of opposition supporters who came out and risked life and limb was not as low as some would like us to believe, however, due to the brutality and force used against them (as seen in this video) the groups had to scatter all over town to keep from being beaten and/or killed!

IND:  After Feb. 11, it’s now all about organization, execution and reaching out to the working classes.  The Green leaders need to deliver on these three fronts.

Some in the movement are reassessing their strategy, considering moving away from street protests in the face of the crackdown. But they are struggling to find an alternative way to harness anger at Iran’s government.

“I don’t think we always have to pour into the streets to demand our rights,” said Mohammad Taqi Karroubi, son of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi. Given the fierceness of the crackdown, “it’s natural that we don’t want people to pay a high price anymore.”

Several young opposition supporters who participated in Thursday’s scattered protests expressed dismay, speaking of a temporary defeat and saying the movement needed to strengthen and deepen its organization. Some criticized its loose leadership.

“If we had a strong charismatic leader we wouldn’t have marched in the streets dazed and confused yesterday,” one female university student told The Associated Press from Tehran. “I see the opposite side as the winner today. A temporary winner. …We don’t have a central command. We were like a broken chain, thrown all over.”

Another protester said, “We need a movement that will grow roots. Demonstrations are not going to take us anywhere. We need to make people aware, educate them culturally and socially.”

Widespread strikes — including at the state electricity and oil companies, radio and television stations, the Bazaar and most of the country’s factories — were one tactic used in the 1979 revolution. But it’s not clear if the present opposition can rally enough support among Iran’s laborers.

Publicly, leaders and organizers of the opposition inside and outside Iran are trying to put on a brave face.

“It is natural that the Green Movement will be silent for two or three days in order to take a critical look at itself so it can launch a more serious course,” said Mohammad Javad Akberein, an editor at the opposition Rahesabz Web site in Paris.

Still, she said, she will participate in what could be the next attempt at protests, in March to coincide with Chahar Shanbeh Soori, a traditional fire festival ahead of Iranian New Year celebrations.

Another protester, a 19-year-old student, said many fear the crackdown will get even harsher. He predicted that political pressure will increase, executions will continue and the climate will become even more “militaristic.”

But, he said, he and his friends will “remain reformists until the end of our lives.” Go to AP.

The only Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner begged the world to stop her country becoming “another Zimbabwe” yesterday as the regime gloated at foiling the opposition’s plans for another massive demonstration.

“Tomorrow will be too late. Tomorrow we will face tragedy. Please help us,” Shirin Ebadi said in a speech in Geneva. Referring to the increasingly brutal crackdown on the so-called Green Movement, she added: “Before Iran becomes another Zimbabwe, please think of a solution.”

Dr Ebadi, a human rights lawyer who has lived in de facto exile in the West since President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election, was speaking before the UN Human Rights Council’s review of Iran on Monday. The review is unlikely to worry a regime that cares only about survival.

Most analysts agreed that the opposition had suffered a setback but that the struggle would continue. “Yesterday may prove a pyrrhic victory for the regime,” said Nader Mousavizadeh of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “All the challenges it faces — its loss of legitimacy, increasing international unity around sanctions and Iran’s growing economic crisis, are as significant today as they were before.”

Three broadcasters — the BBC, Voice of America and Deutsche Welle — accused the regime of breaking international law by jamming their Farsi-language broadcasts to Iran. Go to Times UK.

Khamenei had spent months worrying that the opposition Green Movement would hijack the anniversary. Yesterday, he seemed to regain his self-confidence by proving that he could manage Tehran’s streets. In light of this development, how will the Supreme Leader deal with both Iran’s political crisis and the nuclear dossier?

What Happened on February 11

By controlling a huge city like Tehran on such a sensitive day, Khamenei proved his operational capabilities as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. A few days before the anniversary, the regime clamped down on all communication channels, from internet to cell phones to satellite television, interrupting them or placing them under surveillance in order to diminish the opposition’s ability to organize protests. It also raised the level of intimidation, making daily arrests of political and student activists as well as ordinary people and publishing wanted posters of individuals who had participated in the December 2009 Ashura demonstration. Meanwhile, the streets in which opposition protests were supposed to take place were closed twenty-four hours beforehand. Even as the pro-regime demonstration unfolded, hundreds of thousands of Basij militiamen and Revolutionary Guards (some deployed from other cities) were able to control the city, assaulting Green Movement demonstrators as soon as they shouted antigovernment slogans. The movement’s leading public figures were targeted directly: Mehdi Karrubi and Zahra Rahnavard, Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, were both beaten up badly, while Karrubi’s son and dozens of his close friends were arrested.

At the main demonstration, Khamenei sounded and appeared self-confident and in no mood for compromise — the events of the day suggested there was no need to accept the advice of relatively moderate conservatives who had urged that course of action. The regime’s radicals, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, have always believed in taking the offensive when it comes to domestic or foreign policy. Ahmadinezhad has criticized former president Muhammad Khatami for his detente policy and said Iran would not be able to convince the West of its nuclear rights “by begging for them.” The regime’s leaders have a similarly uncompromising attitude toward the domestic crisis — a fact that will no doubt radicalize the Green Movement further, increasing the possibility that social and economic discontent will transform into a politically motivated uprising.

The Crisis Continues

The political crisis in Iran is not limited to what goes on at the street level; ending it will require more than massive security operations during Tehran’s frequent government-sponsored rallies. Another aspect of the crisis is deep controversy and divisions among the Islamic Republic’s elites. In addition to the split between the hardliners and the Mousavi-Karrubi-Khatami camp, there is also bitter enmity between Khamenei and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (who now heads the Expediency Council and Assembly of Experts), as well as between Ahmadinezhad and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani’s faction. A more self-confident Khamenei may increase pressure on the political circles associated with Karrubi, Khatami, Mousavi, and Rafsanjani, making arrests, condemning some individuals to long prison sentences, or executing more detainees as the judiciary has already promised to do. This would infuriate Ahmadinezhad’s critics in the government and associate Khamenei with the president even more than before. By eschewing compromise and offering greater support to Ahmadinezhad, Khamenei is tightening his circle of supporters and making his authority more fragile, despite yesterday’s outcome.

In addition to the political crisis, Ahmadinezhad’s economic policies seem to have generated discontent, especially within the lower and lower-middle classes that the president claims as his main constituency. Last month, Tehran city’s security council raised the issue of a “workers’ crisis” in the capital. Many factories have gone bankrupt and shut down, and many laborers have not been paid for months or were fired without benefits. Recently, laborers, drivers, and other workers in a variety of industries — including the Tehran Metro (especially Sadr Station), the Isfahan Steel Company, the Farnakh and Mahnakh companies in Qazvin, the steel operations in Malayer, the Tube company in Ahvaz, the telecommunications industry in Shiraz, and the third phase of Abadan refinery — either went on strike or protested against their working conditions. Many of these workers were fired or arrested; Mansour Osanloo, head of the Tehran Bus Drivers Syndicate, is still in prison.

Ahmadinezhad has overcome strong objections in the Majlis to his controversial program of phasing out extensive subsidies, especially on energy, which currently account for about one-fifth of Iran’s national income. Consumers will have to pay much higher prices as this plan goes into effect beginning March 22, the Iranian New Year. To be sure, the subsidies have encouraged waste, and consumers may adjust by buying less so that their total outlay does not increase dramatically. To compensate for the change, the regime had pledged to make cash payments to low-income families, but this plan has been thrown into doubt. Ahmadinezhad has proposed a budget that greatly expands government spending over the next year at a time of declining oil revenue. He plans to finance this budget in part by postponing cash compensation for the subsidy phase-out and, in the long term, limiting those payments to only a portion of the revenue generated.

The president’s proposed budget has drawn ridicule from economists and businessmen for a number of reasons, including its projection that Iranian state firms will be able to borrow 9.5 billion euros on international markets despite U.S. pressure. The Majlis will almost certainly make considerable changes. In any case, given the tough economic environment, the government is unlikely to make cash payments that fully compensate for the subsidy phase-out. This may pose political problems by generating unrest among those who have come to depend on the low prices. Such problems could be compounded by the higher inflation rates that economists expect to flow from the subsidy phase-out and huge budget deficit.

Implications for Iranian Foreign Policy

In light of yesterday’s outcome, Khamenei no doubt believes that he is firmly in control. In his anniversary statement, he warned, “Friends and enemies of the Iranian people should know that the people … have made their decision and will destroy any obstacle before their path toward progress and prosperity.

Similarly, Ahmadinezhad has long argued that tough action — be it against domestic opposition or the outside world — brings results. In his speech yesterday, he defiantly stated that “every day Iran will produce in Natanz several kilos of 20 percent nuclear fuel…. We have the ability to produce…80 percent enriched uranium.” His remarks illustrated that Iran’s leaders link their domestic self-confidence with their nuclear negotiating tactics. It seems less likely now that the regime will feel an urgent necessity to resolve the nuclear dispute. In fact, it might adopt a tougher stand on the issue, with hardliners believing they need not endorse compromise with either the international community or the domestic opposition. And if the West and its partners soften their proposals, the regime could well interpret it as further proof that a tough stance reaps positive results. That turn of events would only reinforce the hardliners’ position that Iran should plow ahead on the nuclear front irrespective of what the UN, the West, or the United States does.

Mehdi Khalaji is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on the politics of Iran and Shiite groups in the Middle East.

Go to Washington Institute.

See 1:15, you can see Karoubi at 2:15.

Close to 4000 green supporters gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in London to protest….and at midnight they turned the embassy green with a paint gun!

IND:  A Disappointing Day for the Greens.

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One protester insisted the opposition had come out in significant numbers, but “the problem was that we were not able to gather in one place because (the security forces) were very violent”.

Times: Iran crushes opposition protests with violence

Iran’s regime thwarted the opposition’s hopes of turning the 31st anniversary celebrations of the Islamic revolution into another massive protest today.

It out-manoeuvred the so-called Green movement by swamping the official proceedings with huge numbers of its own supporters, preventing the media from covering anything else and blanketing the rest of the capital with security forces who forcefully suppressed the opposition’s relatively muted demonstrations.

Opposition websites claimed a young woman named Leila Zareii, was killed and many others were wounded or arrested. The opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammed Khatami – a former president – were attacked, as was Zahra Rahnavard, wife of the Green Movement’s other leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Even Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution, was briefly arrested. She and her brother, Hassan, are both opposition sympathisers and she is married to Mr Khatami’s brother.

“It’s pretty clear that Greens everywhere will feel demoralised… The overall feeling is one of disappointment,” one well-placed source in Tehran told The Times last night. “The opposition miscalculated,” said another.

The regime was determined to prevent the so-called Green Movement from hijacking the biggest day in Iran’s calendar and largely succeeded.

Opposition websites said Revolutionary Guards and basiji militiamen were stationed everywhere and that they moved swiftly and violently to break up opposition demonstrations.

They claimed the security forces used live ammunition, knives, teargas and paintballs that would enable them to identify protesters later and that they were beating and arresting women as well as men. They were backed up by water canon, new Chinese anti-riot vehicles and helicopters. Some, wearing plain clothes, infiltrated the protesters. The mobile telephone, internet and text messaging systems were seriously disrupted.

Mr Karroubi’s son, Hussein, said his father had to get out of his car and walk towards Sadeghieh Square, where thousands of supporters had gathered, because the roads were blocked. He was joined by other protestors, but they found their way blocked by plainclothes security forces who attacked them with knives, batons and tear gas.

Mr Karroubi’s bodyguards had to bundle him into a passing car which managed to drive him away, but not before the security forces smashed its windscreen. One of the bodyguards was seriously injured. Mr Karroubi’s other son, Ali, was arrested.

Film clips taken with mobile telephones showed opposition supporters chanting “Death to the dictator” on streets and in subway trains and ripping down a poster of Ayatollah Khomeini. Unrest was also reported in Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashad and other Iranian cities, but it was impossible to verify the reports.

BBC: Son of Iran opposition leader describes attack

Iran’s two main opposition leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, have been beaten up by security forces at a rally marking the anniversary of the Islamic revolution.  One of Mr Karroubi’s sons, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, told BBC Persian TV what happened when his father tried to join his supporters at the event in Tehran.

There was heavy traffic leading up to Saddeqiya Street, so my father Mehdi Karroubi got out of his car with some of his friends and started to walk.

As soon as the Green movement supporters spotted him they started cheering.

Special forces, the police and some plain-clothes forces then started to attack both my father and his supporters.

They used tear gas, batons and other weapons. They were armed and some were carrying cleavers and guns.

They sprayed tear gas into my father’s face, burning him, and he was also hit on the head with a stone.

My father’s face is burnt from the tear gas and his eye is injured

People in the crowd helped him to get away. A kind man gave him a lift but then the special forces started attacking cars.

They smashed the window of the car my father was in.

My father is back at home under medication and doctor’s supervision. He has breathing problems, his face is burnt from the tear gas and his eye is injured.

We are worried because I was with him on Students’ Day [7 December 2009] and I saw a guard deliberately point his gun at him. Everyone who was there today believes that the violence used is beyond belief.

My father’s security situation is very vulnerable at the moment. We heard from his official state bodyguards that some opponents of the regime might cause trouble, so we decided to rely on friends and people we know.

We asked some of our war veterans from the Iran-Iraq war to help us. But in the last 48 hours some of these people have been arrested.

They were called this morning and told that if they guarded certain people they would be arrested.

So we ended up with security guards provided by the Security Council who Mr Karroubi had already stood down. But the authorities were adamant they should stay.

So the only security he had today was the official guards and his sons. One of my brothers got arrested today. The authorities’ behaviour is very hard to understand.

CBS: Iran Reform Leader’s Wife Beaten at Rally As hundreds of thousands of government supporters massed in Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the revolution that created the Islamic republic, gangs of hard-liners attacked senior opposition figures as they tried to attend the rallies – including the wife of the head of the reform movement.   Plainclothes Basiji militiamen beat 65-year-old Zahra Rahnavard with clubs on her head and back until her supporters formed a human ring around her and whisked her away, according to the Web site of her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi.   The assault on Mousavi’s wife took place in the square, and government supporters also blocked Mousavi himself from joining the protests, his Web site said.

TB: Tehran Bureau interview with Hossein Karroubi, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi’s son.

How is your father Haj Agha Mehdi Karroubi?

We’re treating him for burns to his face and eyes. He’s having trouble with his lungs too. He was badly attacked with pepper spray. Plainclothes agents (vigilantes) approached him and kept spraying it in his eyes. He’s resting at home though; he’s not been hospitalized.

Government officials are touting the celebrations today as a referendum on the past few months, on the Green Movement. What do you think? Was this a defeat for the Green Movement?

Well, they bussed in as many people as they possibly could from many towns and locations and depositing them at Azadi Square, surrounded by and escorted by thousands of officers. I have even seen them rounding up people myself. This is while they started beating the others (opposition) starting at 8 am. Of what value is such a pro-government turnout? If they allowed this side (opposition) to gather, they would see how the masses really turn out. For example, at Sadeghi Square, where we were, folks told us they started beating up on them since they started arriving at 8 am. They kept gathering and they kept dispersing them. What value was their [the government's] turnout under these circumstances?

Time: Iran’s Anniversary: Where Was the Opposition?

Enduring America: CNN & Reuters video coverage

Guardian: Iran’s revolutionary road

VOA: Iran Protesters Clash With Security Forces

CS Monitor: Despite harsh threats, Iran protesters show their strength

Guardian: ‘Riot police made it impossible for Mousavi supporters to chant’

Khordaad88: Translation of eyewitness accounts by people who participated in 22nd Bahman protests

CS Monitor: Iran protesters: Strength in decentralization, says former White House Iran aide

Guardian: Iran denies western reporters visas to cover revolution anniversary

WP: What you need to know about Iran’s 1979 revolution

Telegraph: Iranian opposition leaders attacked during anniversary rallies Some analysts believe Iran has been studying the experience of its main diplomatic ally, China, in repressing and marginalising dissent since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. The regime is said to lack confidence it has sufficient loyalty among rank-and-file members of the security apparatus to launch a mass crackdown on that scale.

Instead, it has decided to act decisively early, arresting scores of activists and harassing their leaders. One Iranian blog posted pictures of what it said were Chinese-supplied armoured vehicles with water cannon being held in reserve. As in the Chinese suppression of protests in Tibet, foreign media have been expelled or banned from reporting on the protests. A select group of reporters were invited to film the main speeches in the presence of government minders.

Out of their view, tear gas was fired at several groups of protesters, while squads of the by now familiar black-clad, motorcycle-riding plain-clothes men took up positions around radio and television stations and key regime buildings. The biggest protests took place in Sadeghieh Square, a mile away from the main government rally. Police moved in with batons and fired air guns over the demonstrators’ heads, according to witnesses.

BBC: Newshour’s Lyse Doucet takes an in-depth look at events in the country, with contributions from:

• The BBC’s Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, who is in London after being expelled from Iran shortly after last year’s disputed election.
• Abdulkarim Soroush, a former Iranian revolutionary from 1979, currently living just outside Washington DC.
• Siyavesh Ardalan, a reporter with BBC Persian TV and presenter of the interactive programme click Your Turn.

Times: Iran opposition leaders attacked as regime floods streets Mr Karroubi’s bodyguards had to bundle him into a passing car which managed to drive him away, but not before the security forces smashed its windscreen and bodywork. One of the bodyguards was seriously injured. Mr Karroubi’s other son, Ali, was arrested. Opposition websites reported numerous clashes across the capital between the security forces and large crowds of opposition supporters chanting ‘Death to the Dictator’ and “Iranians – support us, support us”. They claimed the security forces were using live ammunition, knives, teargas and paint-filled balls that would enable them to identify protesters later, that they were beating and arresting women as well as men and that they were smashing car windscreens.

NY Times: Iran Claims Nuclear Gain as Protesters Clash As security forces clashed with his opponents, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was quoted on Thursday as saying his country had produced a first batch of uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent, taunting the West by declaring that if Tehran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, it would say so.  He spoke as opposition Web sites carried reports of a crackdown on antigovernment protesters as the anniversary celebrations unfolded, including gunfire, tear gas and attacks on opposition leaders. The reports could not be confirmed independently because the Iranian authorities imposed severe restrictions on news coverage after last June’s flawed presidential elections. An Iranian opposition Web site said security forces fired shots and tear gas at supporters of an opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as they mounted a counter-rally in central Tehran.

“Security forces opened fired at protesters and fired tear gas in central Tehran,” Reuters quoted the Green Voice Web site as saying, citing witnesses. Another opposition Web site, Jaras, said that security forces attacked another opposition leader, Mehdi Karoubi, when he attended a rally marking the anniversary. Jaras also said security forces attacked former President Mohammad Khatami and briefly arrested his brother and his brother’s wife, who is a granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution. The authorities had warned that they intended to confront protesters harshly. Witnesses quoted by The A.P. said the police deployed hundreds of officers in central Tehran to block protests. The confluence of the protests and Mr. Ahmadinejad’s nuclear claims offered a graphic illustration of how much Iran’s foreign policy is being driven by domestic concerns, analysts said.

Telegraph: Iranian opposition leaders and protesters attacked on anniversary of revolution But witnesses said riot police fired paint-filled balls at hundreds of protesters chanting opposition slogans in Sadeghieh Square, about a half-mile from the huge pro-government gathering. Opposition leaders were reportedly attacked in their cars during the marches, and several were said to have been detained with their families. Dozens of hard-liners with batons and pepper spray attacked the convoy of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, as he tried to join the anti-government protests, his son Hossein Karroubi said.

The attackers — believed to be members of the Basij civilian militia — damaged several cars and smashed windows on Karrobi’s car, though he escaped unharmed, his son said. Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s former reformist president, was also reportedly attacked in his car as the pro-government rally got under way, and his wife and brother were arrested by security forces, according to the opposition website Rahesabz. Zahra Eshraqi, the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late revolutionary leader, was detained with her husband by security forces, according to reports on opposition websites. Iranian authorities again tried to shut down text messaging and web links in attempts to cripple the protests. Internet service was sharply slowed, mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat.Foreign media were only allowed to cover the ceremonies in the square and the speech by Ahmadinejad, with photographers bussed to the site and then away. There is an explicit ban on covering opposition protests.

WP: Huge rally and protests mark Iran revolution TEHRAN, Iran — Hundreds of thousands of government supporters massed Thursday in central Tehran to mark the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran’s Islamic republic, while a heavy security force that fanned across the city moved quickly to snuff out counterprotests by the opposition. Police clashed with protesters in several sites around Tehran, firing tear gas to disperse them and paintballs to mark them for arrest, opposition Web sites reported. Dozens of hard-liners with batons and pepper spray attacked the convoy of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, as he tried to join the protests, his son Hossein Karroubi told The Associated Press.

The attackers – believed to be members of the Basij civilian militia – damaged several cars and smashed windows on Karroubi’s car, though he escaped unharmed, he said. Khatami attack. Security forces also briefly detained the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and her husband, who are both senior pro-reform politicians, according to the couple’s son, Ali. The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for less than an hour before being released, his son told the AP. Tehran residents also reported Internet speeds dropping dramatically and e-mail services such as Gmail being blocked in a common government tactic to foil opposition attempts to organize.

FT: Iran proclaims nuclear successes on anniversary But Mehdi Karroubi, an opposition leader, was attacked by security forces in western Tehran as he was walking to a rally. His youngest son, Ali, was arrested. Another son, Hossein, told the Financial Times that his father was forced into a passerby’s car and that security forces in plainclothes and camouflage uniforms attacked the car, broke its windows and fired tear gas into the face of the 73-year-old leader. One of his bodyguards was hospitalised, but Mr Karroubi himself was not physically injured, the son added.

There were also unconfirmed reports that Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president, was attacked and that his younger brother and his wife were detained for a short period of time but then released. An unidentified number of opposition supporters were reportedly arrested. The Financial Times was banned from going to the rally. Other international media were taken by bus to Azadi Square where the opposition march was to end, but which was occupied by government supporters hours before the rally had started.

BBC: Iranians rally to mark revolution

WSJ: Tensions Flare in Tehran as Government Supporters, Protesters Gather Protests spread to other big Iranian cities like Isfahan and Ahvaz, according to videos posted on Youtube and opposition reports. In Isfahan, opposition supporters massed on a historic city bridge, as cars honked their horns in support. Antiriot police then fired tear gas and guns in the air, chasing the crowd off the bridge, according to videos circulating on the Internet. Residents of Tehran, reached by phone, said much of the city had the feel of martial law, with heavy security deployed throughout the city and many shops closed. Videos posted on Youtube on Thursday showed young men and women carrying green banners in a Tehran metro station and chanting in unison “Death to the Dictator.” The Associated Press, citing eyewitnesses, reported police firing paint balls to disperse one group of protesters, who had gathered at Sadeqieh Square in Tehran. There were no apparent injuries.

AFP: Iran opposition leaders ‘attacked’ on revolution day Opposition website Rahesabz and witnesses said clashes took place at Sadeghieh square, about a kilometre (mile) from where masses were gathered at Azadi (Freedom) Square to mark the toppling of the US-backed shah 31 years ago. Karroubi’s son Hossein told AFP that his father was “not injured but his guards who were accompanying him were.” “They fired tear gas and were brandishing knives when they clashed with our supporters” before the cleric reached Sadeghieh square in western Tehran from where he was supposed to join the marches. Karroubi’s other son Ali was also arrested, Hossein said. The clashes, which started in western districts, had spread to the northern suburbs by early afternoon, the opposition websites said, adding that security forces fired tear gas. Some of the heaviest clashes took place in and around Vanak Square, a wealthy district of northern Tehran, with violence also reported in the western district of Amirabad, the websites said. Apart from plainclothes security forces, reinforcements of the Basij volunteer militia were arriving at the site, near a key university dormitory where anti-shah demonstrations flared during the 1979 revolution. The website and witnesses said motorcycle-mounted anti-riot police were seen moving into the key city centres, including around Iran’s radio and television stations and offices of the country’s supreme leader.

MSNBC: First thoughts: A big day in Iran

BBC: How Iran’s political battle is fought in cyberspace They called it the “Twitter revolution”. Iran’s post-election protests showed the world the power of new media to organise and publicise opposition in a controlled society.

CS Monitor: Iranian revolution anniversary: Will Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remain in power? There are several key questions today. Will Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remain in power as the leader of the revolution? Will there be a takeover by the Revolutionary Guards? Will the frustration of Iranian civil society turn into disenchantment with the reformists and become more radicalized and violent? Finally, will the country suffocate from economic turmoil and even a banking collapse?

CFR: Iran’s Political ‘Gridlock’ Analyst Farideh Farhi says Iran is in a state of “stalemate” as the country marks the 31^st anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s revolution. This will remain true, she says, regardless of the type of street demonstrations that unfold or the government response to them. The problems of the Islamic Republic, highlighted by ongoing protests since flawed June 2009 presidential elections, remain unsolved, she says. “The government has to find a way to get rid of or overcome the gridlock,” Farhi says, but the supreme leader so far has resisted pressure to change the country’s course and “separate himself from the radical forces that have surrounded him.”

LA Times: Protesters clash with police as Iran marks Islamic revolution

CNN: ‘Tense’ Iran marks anniversary, confirms nuclear breakthrough

NPR: Iran Marks Anniversary Of 1979 Islamic Revolution

InsideIran: Iranian Government Launches Communications Blackout on February 11

ICHR Iran: Student Activist: People concerned about blatant regime brutality

Jaras: Tehran’s Sadeghie Square was one of the main focal points of protesters today. Mehdi Karoubi had announced here as the starting point of the demonstration.  Thousands of supporters of green movement had gathered here, meeting with oppressive forces which led to vast clashes. Source: persian2english.com

Live blogging at the: Guardian, NY Times, Times UK, CNN, Atlantic

Videos at: Our site, LA Times, Tehran Bureau, Enduring America, Huffington Post, RFE

Persian Blogs (Can’t verify accuracy.): Homylafayette, Persian2English, Astreetjournalist

Shouts of Death to the Dictator are heard as a woman ties a green ribbon to the train’s handle bars.

Protesters in Aria Shahr with shouts of Ya Hossein Mir Hossein. 

Thousands of Green supporters take to the streets of Tehran.

Protesters take to the streets of Esfahan with anit-government slogans and singing Yare Dabestani.