Pace of violence picking upIn the last hour, there has been a sharp spike in the number of (unconfirmed) reports about intensified violence:
From ABC's Jim Sciutto: "inside the protests tonight, if you support ahmadinajad, no police, you criticize him, get pepper spray, tear gas, batons... Anti-govt protests have spread to other Iranian cities, incl Rasht... We witnessed police spraying pepper gas into the eyes of peaceful female protesters... Two worlds in Tehran tonight. Support Ahmadinejad, free rein. Oppose him, risk police attacks, tear gas, batons, arrest8 minutes ago from web"
From an emailer Salim: "This is beginning to mirror what I witnessed in the first revolution. When people start taking over military centers. There is report that a basiji center in Northern Tehran around Tajrish has been captured by the protesters. This would potentially mean weapons in hands of protesters. I'll let you know if I heard more."
From @tehranbureau: "basij and security forces had fought for hours to subdue the people... My friends who work in the tehran hospitals said the number of injured was staggering"
From @winston80: "heavy clashes in Shiraz (southern Iran) reported. ppl attacking police"
From @iranelection09: "URGENT JUST IN, there are TANKS in front of the interior ministry of tehran in valiasr st. & fatemi cross CAREFUL"
European Union sides with Ahmadinajad fraud http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/cfsp-statements/eu-presidency-statement-concerning-the-iranian-presidential-elections--12-june-2009-25213/The Presidency of the Council of the EU closely followed the course of the Presidential elections held on 12 June 2009 and notices Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected for the second term as the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Presidency is concerned about alledged [sic] irregularities during the election process and post-electional violence that broke out immediately after the release of the official election results on 13 June 2009.
The Presidency hopes that outcome of the Presidential elections will bring the opportunity to resume the dialogue on nuclear issue and clear up Iranian possition [sic] in this regard. The Presidency expects the new Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will take its responsibility towards international community and respect its international obligations.
Violent clashes with police on campus of Tehran UniversityA lot of urgent Twitter traffic in the last hour about major violence at Tehran University, via emailers Susan and Dexter.
Several posts from @persiankiwi: "tehran is like war zone. it is unbelievable. i have not seen this for 30 years. fires everywhere. shooting, people... tehran university dorm has ben raided and hundreds of students arrested tonight. this is happening now... i am hearing that students beaten severly at tehran uni tonight. am speaking with someone on the scene now on mobile..."
More from @maydar: "a very hard conflict is continuing between anti revolt police and students in university of Tehran/ Iran . NOW"
Iran detains over 100 members of opposition http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/world/middleeast/15iran.html?_r=1The Iranian authorities detained more than 100 prominent opposition members, and on Sunday unrest continued for a second day across Iran in the wake of the country's disputed presidential election. [...]
A moderate clerical body, the Association of Combatant Clergy, issued a statement posted on reformist Web sites saying the election was rigged and calling for it to be canceled, warning that "if this process becomes the norm, the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system." [...]
Those arrested were from all the major opposition factions and included the brother of a former president, Mohammad Khatami. Some were released later in the day.
Students beseiged in university plead for American recognition of election fraudI've tried really hard while live-blogging not to post huge blocks of text, I know they can get tedious. But I had to put something up about the interview that aired just now on CNN with one of the network's Tehran-based journalists Samson Desta (I'll replace with video as soon as they post it).
Before I get to what he said, a quick note of thanks to the brave journalists like Desta who are still in the streets trying to get information to us. We've reported on more journalist beatings over the last two days than I can remember, and one camera technician for a German news station has gone completely missing. So thank you.
Now, onto the substance. Desta offered some detailed first-hand insight into the brutal, indiscriminate violence taking place on the ground in Iran. In the section below, he describes the scene at the protests he went to AFTER he had already been personally beaten by police earlier in the day:
Late last night, I went out to one area in Tehran and that one got a bit ugly. You had pro-Mousavi protesters moving out, smashing windows and facing off with a group of individuals who are described as vigilante because they were not wearing uniforms. They were plain clothes, carrying baseball bats. They were carrying metal pipes, and they were just beating up anyone that was that was in that area. Today, I went to a second protest...probably the most violent that I've seen, that we have seen. We went to an area in midtown, where we saw hundreds of pro-Ahmadinejad protesters. The difference here is that these protesters again did not wear any uniforms who identified they were except for the Iranian flag that they were waving. They were on motorcycles. There were some on foot but again, they had weapons. No uniforms but they had weapons such as metal pipes, and they were actually just driving around, intimidating people, beating up people, anyone that was in the street, anyone that was in the road, anyone that dared to chant "Mousavi, Mousavi," they were beating them senseless.
Mousavi plans march on Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square tomorrow, with or without permission http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1483470.php/Renewed_clashes_in_Tehran_as_Moussavi_plans_speech__3rd_Roundup__"With clashes continuing Sunday night on the streets in Tehran, Iran's opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi plans to make a speech to Iranians in the capital's Azadi (Freedom) square."