So following Monday's huge protests - which saw many calling for an end to theocratic rule in Iran, which saw flags being waved with the Islamic Republic symbol removed, which saw protesters chanting, Khamenei knows his time is up ,and which saw pictures of the father of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomenei, being burned - Tues. saw them continuing on the University of Tehran campus where a bloody clash ensued. The brutal Basij goons, outnumbering students 5000 to 800, according to reports, stormed in wielding lethal force.
Armed with steel clubs, electric batons, pepper spray and tear gas, members of the Basij paramilitary organization attacked several hundred students on the campus of the University of Tehran. Witnesses said the student protesters fought back, in some cases injuring members of the Basij, who fall under the command of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps
The government, as evidenced by this latest show of force, seems determined to neutralize Iran's vocal student community.
A relatively small but active group of students nationwide has challenged the government for many years, and it now forms the backbone of a grass-roots opposition movement. Nearly six months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a disputed election, triggering the most intense demonstrations Iran had seen in decades, the protesters are again showing signs of gaining strength.
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Analysts say the country's top leadership is in a tight spot.
"If they suppress the demonstrations, using more violence, they will lose the support of the people," said Hamid Reza Jalaeipour, a professor of sociology at the University of Tehran, who supports the opposition. "If they respond to the opposition's demands, they will lose their influence. Every option will hurt."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Students, in order to avoid the govt's hardline tactics, have employed new organizing methods involving a decentralized decision making process. In fact, many student leaders had been arrested in the weeks leading up to these latest protests in the hope of curtailing them, but it had no affect.
Efforts by security forces to arrest student leaders did not appear to work — partly because of new organization techniques developed since June
"Communication is all through [personal] networking — they have adjusted so that they do not make decisions as a single group," says Ali Akbar Mousavi-Khoeini, a former prominent member of Iran's strongest student organization who moved to the US earlier this year.
"They have changed to do networking activities, so that decisionmaking is no longer taking place at a top level," says Mousavi-Khoeini. "The decision making process has changed to avoid having to meet and vote."
http://www.csmonitor.com/...
But still, ominous threats have been issued by Iran's prosecutor-general towards protesters. Hundreds have already been arrested.
Iran's prosecutor-general, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, warned Tuesday of harsh consequences for those who took to the streets this week. Tehran officially regards the protest movement as a tool of its foreign enemies, including the United States.
"We have asked security, law enforcement and judicial organizations not to give a second chance to lawbreakers and those who disrupt the order and security of society," he said at a news conference, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
"We have shown a degree of tolerance so far in order to identify the boundaries and affiliations and to expose the enemy's hidden intentions," he said. "As of today, no leniency will be shown."
http://www.latimes.com/...
The UN has finally taken notice of these egregious human rights violations against protesters, which have been going on in Iran since the stolen presidential election.
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay voiced concern on Tuesday that Iran is using more force to suppress protests and urged the Islamic republic to respect opposition supporters' right to protest.
"The suppression of protests is escalating, it is much more serious," Pillay told Reuters.
She also said that a senior Iranian human rights official, who had requested a meeting with her, set for Tuesday, had cancelled it.
"We are really helpless when a country is closed -- Iran is one of them. It is very defensive when we raise issues but we will continue to raise them."
http://in.reuters.com/...
hmmm, "senior Iranian human rights official"...that's oxymoronic, is it not?
Well, these brave protesters want to throw off the yoke of their brutal oppressors, this Iranian totalitarian theocratic regime. Many are now calling for separation of religion and state and an end to theocratic rule.
Power to the People!
moon