Massive protests continue in the streets of downtown Tehran as supporters of former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi continue to protest last week’s presidential election, accusing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of rigging the election in his favor.
Despite persistent reports of his arrest, Mousavi attended the rally today, cheering on his followers and promising that he would “pay any cost” to contest the Interior Ministry’s claim that Ahmadinejad had won by a wide margin.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a clerical panel to investigate the matter, though Mousavi said he held out little hope for them overturning the vote. The protesters have been clashing persistently with police, and it is now being reported that members of a volunteer militia have killed at least one of the protesters.
Details about the situation have been difficult to confirm, as the Iranian government has placed restrictions on foreign media in the nation. Mousavi’s supporters have turned to the internet to get information out of the country, and a group of overseas hackers supportive of the opposition have attacked Iranian government websites, leaving the whole situation in turmoil.
While trying to eat my lunch today I had to listen to my boss prattle on about how his room mate was monitoring the coordination of the Iranian "rallies" via Twitter. While it was amusing to hear about English-speaking Iranians running from intersection to intersection, gesticulating at gun emplacements and such, it nevertheless served to solidify my conviction that this whole Mousavi protest farce is being coordinated from outside Iran.