Thirty one years after the Islamic Revolution, two forces inside Iran come face to face tomorrow, February 11, 2010. The Iranian regime, which has increasingly been the sole celebrator of 22 Bahman, is trying with all its might to show this day and its related “celebrations” as evidence of its legitimacy and Iranian people’s commitment to the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite appearances. Iranian protesters who have been denied legal permits for their gatherings to object to elections fraud and subsequent violence on protesters, are planning to take over this public gathering, much as they have every other government supported occasion since June, 2009.
By all accounts, the government has done its best to enlist and summon its supporters to its Tehran gathering, using intimidation and threats to keep the protesters at home, bringing internet services to a hault, lining main streets with loudspeakers to drone out voices of the protesters, switching plastic garbage dumpsters (flammable ones) with metal ones to keep the protesters from using them as barricades, and closing in Azadi Square for more effective crowd control, among other things.
For their part, the protesters have said in Tweets and blogs that they would not be deterred. They are planning to show up and to be heard again.
The sad murders of Iranians on Tehran streets whenever there has been a large protest over the past seven months has been no small matter. Nobody looks forward to more violence and it is everyone’s sincere hope that no other Iranian dies during the protests or after. We cannot stop the violence Islamic Republic of Iran is able and willing to unleash on the unarmed Iranian protesters. All we can do is to share what information we get about the events with others. Let us not be indifferent. Let us make the voices of those defenseless people on Tehran streets heard by the rest of the world.
If you see Tweets, blogs, news items, video clips, or anything else which could be of interest to others in our community, please feel free to post it here over the coming hours. I will do the same. This blog will be a live news blog.
I wish Iranians worldwide peace and freedom. I wish every one of those people to go back to their families safe and sound tomorrow.
