Iran Demonstrations

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By ABC30

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A ban on foreign media has made it very difficult to get video of the violence.

But the Associated Press did release these new photos this Sunday morning. They show the physical confrontations between security forces and protestors who refuse to accept the re-election of President Mahmoud Amadinejad.

ABC's Chuck Sivertsin has the latest on the violence, and the new Twitter message attributed to opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Despite strong warnings from Iran's highest authority to stay home, thousands of defiant protesters marched into a showdown with waiting government forces. Riot police and paramilitary fighters used batons, tear gas, and water cannons on the protesters.

Eyewitnesses said paramilitaries shot a young woman who died on camera due to restrictions on foreign coverage, the protesters themselves are filming the unrest, images that cannot be verified. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini warned the protesters to stop and accept the re-election of President Mahmoud Amadinejad.

Iranian State tv reported a suicide bombing at the ayatollah's shrine.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called on the guardian council, which must certify last week's election, to throw out the results. The council has agreed to only a random recount of 10 percent of the vote.

On the website Twitter, a message attributed to Mousavi told his supporters: "I am prepared for martyrdom, go on strike if I am arrested." Mousavi and his followers are gaining support around the world for their fight for a more democratic Iran.

President Barack Obama issued a statement to the Iranian Government: "The world is watching, and that it must stop violent and unjust actions against its own people." The escalating violence in Tehran could signal a long, vicious conflict.

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