Orihinally posted on Tehran Bureau Live Twitter Feeds Egypt Algeria Yemen Iran Last Update : 7:30 a.m., 26 Bahman/Feb 15
Iran Live Blog: 25 Bahman / 14 February
by MUHAMMAD SAHIMI, JOSH SHAHRYAR, DAN GEIST, TEHRAN BUREAU STAFF, and CORRESPONDENTS
Iran Standard Time (IRST), GMT+3:30
7:30 a.m., 26 Bahman/Feb 15 The regime's security forces tried, with some success, to choke off access by protesters to the primary march route and gathering sites in the capital. Here's what the experience of 25 Bahman was like for one Tehrani who couldn't make it to the main event:
They were too many! With batons and knives. There were maybe a thousand of us [in my crowd]. I'm really not sure. Maybe more. They never let us join. I had a close call today! I could have ended up in their custody. I was chased down by a group of anti-riot police and violent Basijis. We ran and hid in a small restaurant. The owner was trying to force us out but we begged and begged and he finally agreed to let us stay for a few minutes. They fired teargas and we used that to escape.
At least we showed them that it is not over yet, although I'm very disappointed. I am very happy for the Egyptian people.They have slowed down the Internet speed in Tehran (maybe in other cities too) for today and maybe tomorrow so that no one can send out any videos or photos. Luckily enough I can access my Gmail. No access to Facebook and Twitter. Mobile phones were down but are back up now.
6:20 a.m., 26 Bahman/Feb 15 Arash Aramesh of InsideIRAN.org has an interview with a student activist at Tehran's Amir Kabir University. Here's an excerpt (it's not clear at what time Monday the interview was conducted):
Please describe what is happening right now in Tehran?
Lots of people were on the streets; maybe a few hundred thousand. We started at Amir Kabir University, but security forces shut all the gates at the university. My friends and I wanted to march together so we would be in a group to reduce the risk of getting caught. Around campus, security forces split us up in two groups. There was a pro-government professor yelling and chanting against us. Some people were arrested on campus. We moved near Vali Asr Square, but police locked down the entire area. We tried to walk to Azadi Square. You could not see a single open store. It is a good hour or so walk from Vali Asr to Azadi but you did not see a single open business.Were there a lot of arrests?They filled vans with people. They rushed us and took people away. There is a language school near Danshjoo Park. Police occupied that building and the one next to it and turned it into a temporary detention facility. Four or five officers would attack students and kidnap them and then keep them in the building.At noon, we told everyone that we had a permit to reduce the fear and anxiety of people. Phones did not work in that area, but we still managed to get many people out. This was a very successful event. Many people showed up and not many got hurt.How did the police treat the demonstrators?Some police forces were surprisingly nice, especially around Azadi Square. But other forces in other areas used brute force. I saw a man whose face was struck with something. I couldn't tell what it was, but there was blood all over him and he fell down. The government is really worried about people with cameras and this man had a camera. He was taking pictures. The government doesn't want any media coverage.There was such little information about what to do and where to go. We got all our information from the internet. And there is no information about what to do next. But I am very happy about today's turnout.
Here's a video, soundless, with a credible -- though unconfirmed -- claim to having been taken on Monday:
4:20 a.m., 26 Bahman/Feb 15 Dispatch from a university student correspondent in Tehran:
Regarding demonstration news that I have seen or my friend witnessed:
Yesterday, 24 Bahman, I heard some people said "Allah-o akbar" in the sector near Azadi Square at 10 p.m. The volume was not as strong as in past demonstrations.The security guards filled the main squares of the city before the 24th.The 25th started with the story of a man who climbed a [crane] with a picture of MHM [Mir Hossein Mousavi] on his hand. Persian media reported that the man used a huge amount of drugs.Thousands of security guards appeared in the streets and main squares.I know that people could not go to the university without having student cards. We had to show our cards in order to enter the university. Some of my friends couldn't go to classes because they didn't carry their cards with them. I saw some of them outside the doors.Between noon and about 2 o'clock, some people and students related to Basij militia started some ordered demonstrations in the streets and universities. They used some slogans to support Khamenei and to condemn Greens. The Basijis called Greens "monafeghin" [monarchists].The numbers of Basij members were more than Greens in some parts of the city. There were some conflicts between the two groups.I saw people that were not students, but had the authority to enter Sharif University.Basijis carried the flags of Iran, Egypt, and Hezbollah and pictures of Khamenei.After 3 o'clock, the main demonstrations by Greens started. We left the universities and entered the nearby streets, but the guards were everywhere with motorcycles. [It remains uncertain if and to what extent forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were actually used for crowd dispersal. It is not uncommon for Iranians to refer to security forces generically as "guards." --Ed.] Guards attacked peoples and did not allow them to gather. The voices of the Greens were dispersed. Their slogans were:"Na Ghaza, na Lobnan; Tunis o Misr o Iran" [Not Gaza, not Lebanon; Tunisia and Egypt and Iran]"Mubarak, Ben Ali, Nobateh Seyyed Ali" [Mubarak, Ben Ali, now Seyyed Ali (Khamenei)'s turn]The guards were everywhere, even in the small streets. A group of them attacked us in a small street about 1,000 meters from Azadi Square. They arrested a guy and forced others to leave.People turned off their cars and made heavy traffic [jams] in some parts of the city.The main demonstrations were at Enghelab Square, Imam Hossein Square, Tohid Square, Vanak, Sadeghieh, Azadi Street, Vali Asr, Habbibolahi Street, near Sharif U.
2:45 a.m., 26 Bahman/Feb 15 One of our interns watching Iran state media filed this earlier in the evening:
It seems Iranian state TV is making a concerted effort to show clips from last Friday's pro-government gathering on many of its channels. One repeated clip on IRIB [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting] showed clips of the former Shah's son Reza Pahlavi supporting the protests today; also in the clip, a mash-up of VOA and BBC Farsi analysts advocating for protests, Secretary of State Gibbs criticizing the Iranian government, and interestingly, a clip announcing the U.S. State Department had set up a Farsi twitter feed. In between the clips, pictures of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi [with] a backdrop of a Star of David and U.S. flag. IRIB also featured interviews with pro-government gatherers criticizing 25 Bahman protesters.
Radio Zamaneh website reports:
Videos from Tehran reveal that protesters have remained in the streets past nightfall, gathering around garbage bins set on fire and chanting anti-government slogans.
The website of Green Voice of Freedom, which has posted videos of today's gatherings, has become increasingly difficult to access, and MirHosein Mousavi's Kaleme website also reports heavy interference with its internet service.An eyewitness has told Zamaneh that around 5:30 local time, two young men were shot by anti-riot police and taken to hospital. Official sources have not yet confirmed this report.Security forces reportedly attacked Sharif University, where students were chanting anti-government slogans.While state media have largely ignored the protests, Fars new agency, which has links to Iran's notorious Revolutionary Guards, ridiculed the protesters, calling them "hypocrites, monarchists, ruffians and seditionists" who did not even chant any slogans in support of the Arab uprisings, the stated purpose for today's rally.
The website of Press TV, IRIB's English-language subsidiary, provides this look at the day's events:
Small groups of anti-government protesters have disrupted order in the Iranian capital Tehran, prompting citizens to hold counter-demonstrations.
The protesters, mostly supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, set fire to trashcans and chanted slogans against the government.This is while the opposition had asked for permission to hold a public [sic] "in support of the people in Tunisia and Egypt." The Iranian government, however, refused to give permission and declared all such rallies illegal.Meanwhile, counter-demonstrations were held to denounce the move by the opposition to disrupt public order, and condemn the riots by the supporters of Mousavi and Karroubi.Iran says American NGOs and organizations have provided financial support for post-election unrest in order to topple the Islamic establishment.
Tehran Bureau has yet to receive any independent reports of the sort of "counter-demonstrations" described by Press TV.Tehran Bureau
