IRAN: Even more footage, pictures from Ashura protests

News of chaos and fierce clashes continue to pour from Tehran, with some on the Web describing the city as a war zone. Clouds of black smoke are billowing into the sky in the Iranian capital from tear gas canisters fired by police while tens of thousands of opposition supporters are continuing to clash with riot-clad security forces, allegedly setting afire trash cans and police cars.

Police helicopters continue to circle areas of central Tehran where defiant crowds of protesters have gathered, as seen in this video below.

"People in Tehran [are] saying this is not a Demo. This is uprising!" wrote Omihabibinia on Twitter.

The footage below shows dark smoke rising to the sky as a result of what is thought to be tear-gas canisters being fired by security forces in an attempt to disperse protesters.

Opposition protesters seem to be growing increasingly daring despite the reports of several fatalities and injuries during today's protests -- though Iranian police deny those reports. In the following footage, a car said to be a police vehicle has been tipped to its side and set ablaze as protesters wearing masks chant "Allah Akbar" (God is great).

In this video, another vehicle is seen burning as protesters chant, "Death to the dictator."

In this photo, posted on Twitter, a crowd of people marches down the street, some of them wearing green wristbands and some flashing the victory sign, as a pile of rubble burns in the street.

Meanwhile, chants of anti-government slogans continue to be heard throughout many parts of Tehran. In the video below, protesters are shouting a well-known anti-government slogan, which translates to:  "Artillery, tanks and Basijis no longer have an effect."  

Police and security forces have been met with fierce resistance by opposition protesters in some areas of the capital. It is said they've lost control in certain parts and been pushed away by crowds of protesters.

 -- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photos: Protests on Dec. 27, 2009, marked the worst violence since the protests in the immediate aftermath of June's disputed presidential election.Security forces appear to have lost control of some areas of Tehran, where they've been met by fierce resistance from opposition supporters. Credit: AFP. Videos: Scenes of protests in Tehran. Credit: YouTube

Comments

[persian]

Dear Mohammad;

Who threw stones to prayers? Who killed Neda Agha Soltan, Amir Javadifar, Sohrab Arabi, Kiyanoush Asa, Mohsen Rouholamini and and and and ...... . Want more???

Honey!!! "Gone those days that thugs such as you and Basiji kill people in secret and make lies." Open your eyes. and note that " Gone those days"

Iran has changed. Iranian aren't blind and foolish. Iranian like peace and hope but from Ashura, they showed that they can defense themselves from thugs. But they don't forget Mercy. Stop lying. by lying, you just discredit yourself among others.
Gone those days!!!!!!

[Joemamabush]

about time Iran.Not death to the dictator but make them dictators dig ditches with spoons not shovels. Plus put them hardliners on a diet of only pork.

[JohnRJ08]

By the way, you mention a list of countries where the US has done shameful things. The leader of Panama, Noriega, was in the employee of the drug cartels and his corrupt government was enabling the laundering of billions of dollars. We didn't take over Panama. We simply went in and arrested a criminal who was untouchable by his own country's legal system. You also forget that we turned over a critical piece of real estate in Panama, the Panama Canal, to that country with the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. If the US was as bad as you say, why would it have willingly honored that treaty?

As far as El Salvador and Nicaragua are concerned, the United States did not want Cuba exporting communism to other South American countries. It was pretty clear that was happening during the 1970's and 1980's. Did we want to rule those poor little countries? Of course not. Did we handle those situations perfectly? Again, of course not. But we weren't trying to set up American colonies and control the people of those countries.

Vietnam wasn't one of our neighbors, and it wasn't our finest hour, either. The United States "won" that war to the extent that any war is winnable. Once we decided to pull out, the people of South Vietnam were brutalized by Ho Chi Mingh's army. Remember Pol Pot? We left and now were have decent relations with those countries. As you may recall, before we were in Vietnam, the French and British has been there. This was during the Cold War and there was a lot of fear that the Soviet Union would expand its influence throughout that part of the world. SEATO was a treaty we had signed which committed us to protecting the member nations.

I'm not going to make excuses for everything the US has done, largely because there's no excuse for a lot of it. But this country has never sought to rule or occupy any other country. What we usually do is end up paying for the rebuilding of the countries we've defeated and then we leave. I don't know what will happen in Iraq. Clearly, we should never have invaded that country. Then again, how many people would Hussein and his sick offspring murdered if we hadn't dusted him? There's no question he would have ended up in another war with Iran.

[JohnRJ08]

You don't get it, Iranian in Laos. I'm not talking about governments. I'm talking about people and history. You insist on raging at the U.S. government and all I've said in its defense is that I don't perceive it as anything like the scenario in "1984". I certainly have NEVER said that "everything" my government does is "fine". That's you misrepresenting what I've said. And I wouldn't accept anything posted on Wikipedia as being 100% factual. Anybody can add or delete information on that site. To say that Communists didn't infiltrate and influence the student movement during the 1970's and that the Iranian Communist party received no direction from Moscow is remarkably naive. What happened in Tehran in 1979 was in Moscow's interest and it still is today.

I have NEVER watched FOX News, I voted for Obama, and I'm probably the most likely American to support the protesters in Iran. What you're doing here is obfuscating, trying to turn the discussion away from the main issue by making past US foreign policy the topic. That is nonsense. The reason people are dying on the streets of Tehran has nothing to do with American foreign policy and it has everything to do with the kind of people you and your countrymen brought into power via violent revolution back in 1979. How about taking some responsibility for that?

If the Shah had banned his secret police and instituted democratic reforms, wouldn't that have been preferable to what you have now? My personal belief is that that would have eventually happened, but by the time the Shah realized his situation and started instituting reforms it was too late. Everybody, including the Shah and the US, miscalculated the depth of anger of the Iranian people. But everybody knew how deeply involved Moscow was in the anti-government demonstrations.

The list of grievous mistakes the United States has made over the last +60 years is a long one. And we will make more. But those errors are counter-balanced by the many sacrifices this country has made for the world. Big countries have widespread interests and they make big mistakes, but this country stopped being an imperialist power after the Louisiana Purchase. We can't control other countries, nor do we want to control them. With the sad exception of the Bay of Pigs invasion, we haven't had a war or military skirmish with any of our neighboring countries in more than a century. (We fired no shots during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the Bay of Pigs invasion was made up entirely of Cuban exiles). The countries we have fought in past wars are now sovereign nations with intact cultural identities. You can take potshots at the US all day long. We're an easy target. But changing the subject won't fool anybody.

[Iranian in Laos]

More videos here from a protester's mobile phone: http://tinyurl.com/ycv7q3q

upload to youtube if you can. Thanks!

[Iranian in Laos]

@JohnRJo8 - In your replies, you avoid mentioning anything that might make your government look bad or accepting slightest blame put on your government actions like a good patriotic american that you are. If you read wikipedia on "Operation Ajax" and you still feel what your government did is fine, then I have nothing more to say to you, go back to watching O'Reily on your favorite news network.

The student movement was only a small part of a major movement which started in 1953 after U.S./UK orchestrated coup d'etat and communists did not "infiltrate" the movement, they were part of it, part of our society like any other group and tortured or killed by CIA trained Savak, shah's secret service. The communists were also supporting Khomeini during revolution and their crime was.. I'm going to quote you since you put it so eloquently: "eliminate the West's influence in that country". Did you really mean to say that or was it a Freudian Slip? I guess all Iranians who want an independent country from Western influence are guilty, criminals and perhaps terrorists in your book.

Building bridges is fine but it can only happen when trust is established between the two parties first [between US and Iranian people], and I don't see that until your government get off its high horse and stop interfering in other people's business.. and its caring people like you stop parroting Fox news and your other rightwing nutjobs like Rush Limbough.

As for "Iranians have been screaming Death to America", they are the government nutjobs [yes, we have ours too and plenty of them], however "America" in that context to them stands for your governments policies. They can differentiate between American people and their government.

What amazes me the lack of any shred of guilt in you for what your government has been doing around the world... Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, Vietnam,.. the list is long. I'm ashamed of my government but you should be even more of yours. Good luck to you!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_ajax

[JohnRJ08]

What I see from a lot of Iranians is a tendency to lash out in every direction, blaming everybody else but themselves for their current predicament. It's the Ahmadinejad government. It's the meddling United States. It's Britain. It's the United Nations. It's Israel. It's everybody but Iranians. For the last 30 years, Iranians have been screaming "Death to America", yet many Americans remain highly sympathetic to the people in the streets of Tehran. Rather than reaching out, trying to build bridges with future allies, some Iranians are content to make threatening, hateful remarks about the U.S. This has all the symptoms of a pre-adolescent tantrum which serves no useful purpose.

[JohnRJ08]

Iranian in Laos--
First of all, it is now common knowledge that the student movement in Iran in the 1970's was heavily infiltrated by Communists, which wanted to de-stabilize Iran and eliminate the West's influence in that country. You'll remember, this occurred not too long before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. The Shah's government fell just three weeks before that. Of course, you probably think that was just a coincidence.

As far as the United States' relationship with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Dubai, it is paranoia in the extreme to suggest that these sovereign countries are puppets of ANY government, much less the US. Furthermore, the US is constantly issuing public statements about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and putting heavy pressure on that country to deal with the Wahabists and madrassas, which are terrorist factories. Simply claiming that these countries are puppets of the "Great Satan" proves nothing except your hatred and limited knowledge of the West.

I can't speak for every other American, but I have read "1984" and I see zero evidence that my country is anything like the world described in that novel. If anything, with things like the Anti-Sex League and Thought Police, some of the Mideast is looking quite similar to Orwell's scenario. Perhaps you haven't read many US newspapers lately, but the media in this country is constantly addressing the issue of human rights and, especially, the treatment of women in many Mideast countries. Our government has also issued official statements about the human rights situations in China, Myanmar, North Korea and Turkey.

As for you coming over here after you get rid of your dictators, talk is cheap. First, you'll have to deal with more than half of Iran's population which supports the Khamenei government. If you're able to do that without turning into the very thing you're trying to overthrow, then you're welcome to join the millions of other Iranians who have already come to this country to live productive, peaceful lives.

[Iranian in Laos]

@JohnRJ08 - I really didn't want to answer your post because it is extremely unintelligent, and it's very annoying when someone who doesn't know anything about a subject tries to act like he knows everything to know about it. Please don't ever write anything about Iran until you have got your facts strait. I was very involved in 1979 revolution and to say it was "communist-led uprising" is plain ignorant. Russia did not stick their nose in Iran affairs more than any other neighbor would, but what business is it of USA to topple our democratically elected prime minister? Stop interfering in countries on the other side of the world! Who made you the planet's master? It is clear your sources of information are mainstream America, such as Fox news and other mass control centers in your country. First learn about the subject. Search Wikipedia for "Operation Ajax". Iranian people's problems with USA did NOT start in 1979 as your country's media keep hammering in average American's numb skull. It started from 1953!!! read about it! You said "Neither Jordan, Eqypt, Dubai, nor Saudi Arabia are puppets of the U.S., and they have decent relations".. please,.. the whole world knows they are US puppets.. If they weren't american media would be talking about how undemocratic they were.. how oppressive and backward.. when was the last time you heard your government criticize them or condemn their human rights record?.. and especially on women's rights? and how many thousand times we have heard that about Iran which is a lot more progressive and open society compare to your arab "allies"? I'm not defending the Iranian dictators, just pointing out your distorted and selective morality. Don't let no one fool you including your own government or your american pride. Also, what are you doing to protect your rights and freedom in america when is being chiseled down bit by bit? You are living in George Orwell's 1984 buddy! you just don't know it. Maybe after we are done with toppling our dictators in our country, we come over to yours.

[JohnRJ08]

It's both amusing and disheartening to read the parroting of anti-US propaganda in these comments. While the US has certainly involved itself in the internal workings of many sovereign countries, it has never sought to rule those countries or steal their natural resources. If anything, the US is the world's biggest and best customer. The problem in Saudi Arabia is the Royal Family, not the United States. Stability has always been in the interest of the US. Even so, nearly every American fully supports the people who are currently demonstrating in Iran. We don't like Ahmadinejad and Khamenei for a number of reasons, but the main reason is because we DON'T like dictators. In the past, our government may have supported the wrong government for the wrong reasons, but I think we're in the right place now because we have a lot more information than we've ever had in the past. I think Obama's stated policy of letting the Iranian people determine the future of their country is only path to follow. That said, I don't know anybody who doesn't hope the protestors succeed in bringing down that theocratic regime. It's a menace to the world.

[machmud]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be hanged for ordering the killing of iranian citizens

[JohnRJ08]

Iranian is Laos-- The reason blood is being spilled in the streets of Tehran today is because of a communist-led uprising that took place in 1979 led to a brutal theocratic dictatorship which still exists in that country. The reason the United States was sticking its nose in Iranian affairs at that time is because there was a lot of intelligence that the anti-Shah movement was being nurtured by Moscow. To this day, Russia is heavily involved in Iranian affairs. The U.S. tried to help the Shah because it didn't want a communist puppet-state set up there for obvious reasons. Of course, once Khomeni gained power he reneged on all of his promises to set up a secular, democratic state. Then he created the Revolutionary Guard, which ended up being worse than the Shah's secret police. Blaming everything that's happening now in Iran on the United States is just ignorant. Neither Jordan, Eqypt, Dubai, nor Saudi Arabia are puppets of the U.S., and they have decent relations.

[Travis Mann]

The victims of this Iranian regime, including all those people killed by it in 1979, have Jimmy Carter to thank. He pushed the Shah from power and allowed mullahs to imprison Iranians. Sadly, the so called "religious" mullahs are a thousand times more brutal than was the Shah. They murder their opponents while the Shah jailed and then released them, as he did with Khomeni. The Shah was far too gentle with those who wanted to take over Iran, now we see the results with these "religious" thugs committing mass murder on the Iranian people. Blame Jimmy Carter, he allowed it to happen.

[Palmer Clemmons, Jr.]

I completely empathize with the opposition protests. I'm sure the protestors realize that government based on Islamic theology has proven unfeasible and that it is best for Iran to adopt all the tenets of Western civilization. The first order of business is to write a constitution based on the separation of mosque & state.

[Iranian in Laos]

I'm proud of people who took to the streets in Iran today. As someone who lived under mullah's oppression for many years, I understand their anger and frustration. I just hope Obama and American administration keep their mouth shut. We don't need any type of dictator, internal or external to tell us what we should do. The reason our blood is spilling on the streets today, is the direct result of america's imperialistic foreign policy which suffocated our newborn democracy in cradle in 1953. We have not seen any change of behavior from your government since then. You have no legitimacy in our eyes regardless we are against or for the Iranian government.., just like Mr Alan MacDonald mentioned in one of the previous posts, you just have mastered the art of deception better than Iranian government. We don't want the dictators presently ruling our country and we certainly won't be your puppet, client state like Saudi Arabia, so you can call us your "ally" (read friendly dictator oppressor or order takers who sold their people for personal gains), not in a million years. I also want to ask those American's suggesting violence, even arms, what did you YOU do personally when your election was rigged?

[fabi]

We just want peace , freedom and democracy . every one who cares about human rights must supports protests in Iran in anyway he/she can .

[Richard Welsh]

It's a tragedy that Iran might have to come so close to or spill over to revolution for the second time in less than fifty years.

To Alan MacDonald, I'm afraid you're an un-educated imbecile that engages in generalizations. Perhaps you should get a grasp (at the least a limited one) for the world outside of America and try to understand at least the basics of American society outside your cookie cutter paper thin BS ideology. Good day.

[Ahmad ahmadzadeh]

I just want to tell everybody KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK the victory is close together we will......

[TheSource1000]

Mohammad's comment stated "It is not fair." I am not certain if I understand the fairness of the government suppressing political opposition with force. I suggest that the pro-government demonstrations be met with the force of police and Basij militia. This will create fairness by allowing the media to cover the event.

Also, with respect to Alan MacDonald post: Do you understand that in Iran criticism of the government such as that in your post of the US government would be met with blunt force and imprisonment.

[Adam Neira]

Prayers for the good people of Persia. The people deserve a future of stability, peace, order and prosperity. It is sad to see countrymen fighting each other. It looks like the people may be fed up with the regime.