Election chaos grows bloodier

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 Iranian security forces lashed out against demonstrators in Tehran with the most force yet as the country's escalating standoff over disputed elections continued. RELATED CONTENT

• Watch online videos of protests in Iran
• Iranians in South Florida find unity in turmoil

BY NASRA ISMAIL AND BIODUN IGINLA, BBC NEWS

Iran descended further into chaos Saturday as security forces used guns, tear gas and metal batons against defiant protesters. The protesters fought back, and the toll of dead and injured mounted in the country's escalating post-election crisis.

Videos and pictures posted on the Internet -- and which appeared authentic -- showed scenes of violence. In one, a woman lay in the street, surrounded by a crowd, her face covered in blood. Other reports showed security forces firing into the air to disperse protesters and tossing canisters of tear gas.

But there were also images of protesters battling back -- hurling stones, chasing police away and displaying security forces' helmets like trophies.

Not all of the reports could be independently confirmed given the news blackout that Iran's government has attempted to impose on the country.

President Barack ObamaBarack Obama, meanwhile, sharpened his criticism of an Iranian government that he had hoped to engage in diplomacy.

''The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching,'' Obama said in a written statement. ``We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.''

''The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government ,'' the president said. ``If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.''

Obama has responded cautiously to the crisis so far, hoping not to provide fodder for the Iranian regime's attempts to blame Iran's worst political unrest in 30 years on the United States and other outside forces.

In Tehran, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi spoke to a rally and called for nationwide strikes and protests if he were to be arrested, as many as of his close allies have been. ''I am ready for martyrdom,'' Mousavi reportedly told the crowd.

The continued protests, which seemed smaller than those earlier this week, came despite a stern admonition from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali KhameneiAyatollah Ali Khamenei, on Friday warning that those who continued demonstrating would be responsible for bloodshed.

Khamenei is backing Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom the government claimed won a landslide victory in a June 12 presidential election that the opposition said was rigged.

There have been shouts of ''Death to Khamenei!'' reportedly heard among the protesters in recent days. Until this week, public criticism of Khamenei was virtually unheard of.

Mousavi released a new letter Saturday to the 12-member Guardian Council, which oversees elections, asking that the election results be nullified. He and another opposition candidate, cleric Mahdi Karroubi, did not attend a meeting of the council to which they had been invited.

State-run television reported that a suicide bomber killed himself and injured three others at the massive shrine to revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei outside Tehran, scaling back an earlier report that two had been killed and eight injured.

That report could not be independently confirmed, and it was not clear if it could be part of a government-inspired attempt to discredit the protesters. The regime has consistently blamed the unrest on foreign interference.

The toll of dead and wounded in the protests could not be accurately gauged.

One man in Tehran, communicating by e-mail and asking not to be named, said he had heard reports of 30 dead and 200 injured.

He described thousands of police between Enghelab (Revolution) and Azadi (Freedom) squares, the planned route of Saturday's demonstration. The air was thick with smoke from burning tires, and stones used by protesters against the security forces lay on wet streets, he reported.

There were conflicting reports as to whether foreign embassies had opened their doors to shelter the wounded, and also reports that the government militia known as the basiji had raided hospitals to take the names of the wounded.

Iran's Islamic regime has tried to impose a tight noose on news from the country, arresting Iranian journalists, confining foreign reporters, and attempting to block text messaging, cellphone service and the use of social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.

But news has seeped out nonetheless.

A dramatic video aired on BBC's Persian television broadcast showed Iran's security services apparently firing into the air near crowds as large fires burned in the street. Another video posted on the Internet showed riot police retreating in the face of demonstrators.

• recommend
• email
• print
• share
• buzz up!

POSTED BY BIODUNIGINLA AT 5:59 AM LABELS: BBC NEWS NASRA ISMAIL, BBC NEWS. BIODUN IGINLA, IRAN ELECTIONS AND PROTESTS