IRAN: More video footage from scenes of protests surface
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More video of today’s events in Tehran is emerging on the Internet as clashes between opposition supporters and security forces appear to have turned increasingly violent. Unconfirmed reports from opposition websites citing eyewitness accounts claim four people have been killed in the protests. Several injuries also have been reported.
‘Three of our compatriots were martyred and two were injured in clashes. The reporter who was on the scene said these three were directly shot at by military forces,” said a report carried by the Iranian opposition website Rahesabz.net.
Pictures uploaded by users on Twitter show an unidentified man lying in the street in a pool of blood.
But despite the attempted crackdown on demonstrators by security forces, they appear to remain defiant. In the video below, large groups of protesters are seen chanting, ‘Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein,’ in reference to Iran’s reformist leader as motorbikes believed to belong to the pro-government Basiji militia are seen burning in the street.
User Omidhabibinia wrote in a post on Twitter that protests against the regime were taking place in all of central Tehran.
The video below shows large numbers of people marching through what is supposedly central Tehran chanting ‘Mir Hossein,’ in a gesture of support to the reformist leader who has become the central figure in Iran’s opposition movement.
In other footage, angry protesters are shouting fierce anti-government slogans. In the video below, which was supposedly shot in central Tehran today, crowds are shouting, ‘Allah Akbar’ and ‘Death to you’ in a reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Here in the last video, demonstrators are seen fleeing what is thought to security forces.
The unrest seems also to have spread to other parts of the country. Crowds are reported to have gathered in cities such as Esfahan, Shiraz, and the holy city of Qom.
Twitter user Iranneema wrote in a message that clashes were taking place between people and pro-government Basiji militiamen in front of the house of late cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in Qom.
-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut
Top photo: Protesters are seen fleeing after fighting with security forces. Credit: AFP / Getty Images
Videos: Scenes of protests in Tehran on Dec. 27, 2009. Credit: YouTube