Nahmyo Thomas
Newsire21.org
Charging crowds with tear gas and batons, Iranian police on Thursday broke up a graveside memorial for 10 victims of an anti-government protest in Tehran.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was barred from joining the protestors who met at the gravesite of Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old woman whose name has become a rallying cry of opposition after she was shot to death by police on July 20. A video of her last moments, as she was dying on the pavement, reached viewers around the world.
With reporters barred from reaching the graveyard, citizen journalists posted videos of thousands of protesters chanting, carrying signs, and wearing green t-shirts - the color that signifies Mousavi's reformist movement.
"Neda is alive, Ahmadinejad is dead" was a common cry as the crowd challenged the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 election. Police forces replied by yelling "Death to those who are against the supreme leader," witnesses said.
Police forces also rushed to the Grand Mosala, a big prayer venue in central Tehran, where hundreds of protestors and mourners tried to move after being forced from the cemetery. "I don't understand the meaning of dispatching police forces and security agents to surround those who want to mourn," said Mehdi Karoubi, another reformist candidate.
Protesters who were dispersed to the streets began to set garbage containers on fire. At least three were reported arrested. According to witnesses, passing drivers who honked their horns in support of the demonstrators had their windows smashed in by police.
Ongoing Protests
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has demanded an end to all
protests and that the election results be upheld. But protests haven't halted
and opposition supporters continue to call the election fraudulent.
The protests have evolved into Iran's most serious political crisis since the 1979 revolution. Although western news agencies don't have access to the scene, some have reported that at least 30 people have been killed and hundreds arrested since the election. According to human rights groups, the actual numbers are probably several times higher.
The first trials of detained opposition supporters are scheduled to begin Saturday with the prosecution of about 20 protesters. Those on trial include protestors accused of supplying images of clashes to outside media. Reformist politicians who allegedly ordered some of the riots will be tried at a later date.
