08hayabusa: IRAN REVOLUTION: MASSIVE PROTESTS, DEATHS REPORTED, CHAOS UPDATE: Bloodiest Day in Iran since June

Nation-wide strike starting tomorrow.Tweet it.

VIdeo: Regime car on Fire
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Read my June editorials on Obama and Iran in the American Thinker:

Honduras and Iran: Obama Betrays Freedom Again

The Case for Iran: Fighting for Freedom

“Good news. We have captured Tehran. We are going to bring Ahmadinejad down and once again our nations can unite in their battle against fundamentalists. We are about to free Iran. Pray for us.” (Reza in Tehran)

Pandemonium as clashes continue in Tehran for 2nd day as protesters defy Islamic Government (more) Eyewitness reports and opposition websites say Security forces fired on the crowds in several places, wounding many, killing at least four eleven that we know of.
The worst president at the worst of times. We are in Middle East. Let's help these people. We should arm them, We should go in and de-nuke the mullahs. No, instead we are trying Islamic jihad in Gaza and givign them billions.
These people will win. They have right on their side. They wull never forgive us, leaders of the free world, for abandoning them as they were slaughtered. This is a terrible stain on the glory that was once a proud and glorious America.But then again, so is this president.

Most photos thanks to madayar

Deaths reported amid chaos and violence in Iran

>Reporting from Tehran and Beirut - The Iranian capital erupted in massive and fiery morning-to-dusk protests today as tens of thousands of demonstrators clashed with security forces on the occasion of an important Shiite Muslim holiday.

Several witnesses told The Times that Iranian security forces opened fire with live ammunition against unarmed protesters near College Bridge in in the capital. And opposition news websites reported that several protesters had been killed, including Ali Mousavi, the adult nephew of opposition figurehead Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Reformist websites said he was shot and taken to a Tehran hospital, where his uncle and other relatives soon arrived.

The information could not be independently confirmed, and a police source denied that protesters had been killed in a comment to the pro-government Fars News Agency.

But a witness in front of City Theater in downtown Tehran said she saw a fallen man, apparently stabbed in the back, and spotted another man falling to the ground after a volley of shots was fired near Enghelab Street, which emerged as the epicenter of the day's clashes.

The reports of deaths came during a harrowing day of multiple, rolling clashes between police and Iranian protesters coinciding with an important Ashura religious commemoration as well as the significant seventh day of mourning following the death of the country's leading dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

Reformist websites and witnesses also reported clashes in the cities of Qom, Esfahan, Najafabad, Kashan, Shiraz, Babol and Mashhad.

Demonstrators vowed to continue the protests into the night, with reformist news websites identifying key Tehran squares for gatherings.

"There is no let-up," said Farzad, a 30-year-old who attended today's protests with his girlfriend. "We will go ahead until we topple the government."

Across the capital, witnesses described scenes of pandemonium, which were confirmed by video footage posted online. One described Tehran as a war zone, and another likened the situation to open "civil war" as increasingly bold demonstrators took on security forces, in one case stripping a member of the security forces naked before letting him go, a witness said.

Despite a heavy crackdown, the protest movement that emerged from Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election has grown increasingly daring, with those who want abolition of the Islamic Republic increasingly vocal.

Protesters had vowed for weeks to turn today's annual Ashura commemoration marking the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, into an anti-government demonstration.

The green-themed protest movement sought to meld its cry of injustice with the emotionally powerful narrative of Imam Hussein, whom Shiites believe was unjustly robbed of his throne as the leader of the faithful when he was cut down in battle by the Yazid on the fields outside Karbala, in what is now southern Iraq.

"This is a month of blood," they chanted. "Yazid will be defeated!" "We will fight, we will die, we will get our country back!" the protesters yelled out, holding ribbons of green.

Black plumes of smoke could be seen rising from downtown Tehran. Video posted online showed protesters beating pro-government militiamen as their motorcycles burned in the background. Helicopters hovered in the skies.

Protesters built fires in trash cans to ward off the effects of tear gas. Witnesses described running street battles between plainclothes and uniformed security officers and demonstrators, some throwing stones, in more than a dozen Tehran localities.

At Enghelab Square, a police car was set ablaze, and protesters set fire to motorcycles belonging to riot police in various locales.

Meeting bullets with sheer will

The wail of ambulance sirens could be heard all over the city. Car horns honked on expressways as motorists created traffic jams in an effort to prevent security forces from moving freely. Drivers on nearby streets leaned on their horns and flashed "V" hand signs despite the heavy presence of police deployed around main squares. Passengers on buses could be heard chanting slogans.