Ashura - Blood In The Streets Of Tehran; Sun & Silence In Hawaii (Updated)

"To the coup leaders and instigators of oppression and brutality against the people protesting during the ceremony of Ashura . . . The sins that you have committed today cannot be forgiven by God. If you don’t have a belief in God, at least be a human.” . . . even the Shah respected the day of Ashura and he gave orders to allow people to be free to do as they wish.

- - Public Statement of Mehdi Karroubi, Iran News

Iranians demonstrate in Tehran and attack a basij thug, cheering when a protester holds up his helmet.



Protesters in this video rush a paddywagon ferrying captured protesters to prison.



The regime has fired into the protests on several occasions today.



Reports of a dozen dead are coming in, though that seems low.





This from the Washington Post:

Security forces opened fire at crowds demonstrating against the government in the capital on Sunday, killing at least five people, including the nephew of opposition political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, witnesses and Web sites linked to the opposition said.

"Ali Mousavi, 32, was shot in the heart at the Enghelab square. He became a martyr," the Rah-e Sabz Website reported.

In the heaviest clashes in months, fierce battles erupted as tens of thousands of demonstrators tried to gather on a main Tehran avenue, with people setting up roadblocks and throwing stones at members of special forces under the command of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. They in turn threw dozens of teargas and stun grenades, but failed in pushing back crowds, who shouted slogans against the government, witnesses reported.

A witness reported seeing at least four people shot in the central Vali-e Asr Square. "I saw a riot cop opening fire, using a handgun," the witness said. "A girl was hit in the shoulders, three other men in their stomachs and legs. It was total chaos."

Fights were also reported in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran.

The protests coincided with Ashura, one of the most intense religious holidays for Shiite Muslims. The slogans were mainly aimed at the top leaders of the Islamic republic, a further sign that the opposition movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed June election victory is turning against the leadership of the country.

At the Yadegar overpass, protesters shouted slogans such as "Death to the dictator" and "long live Mousavi." They fought running battles with security forces until a car filled with members of the paramilitary Basij brigade drove at high speed though the makeshift barriers of stones and sandbags that the protesters had erected. . . .

The Daily Nite Owl is one of several sites live-blogging the day's protests, as is Iran News now. Their latest report:

[12:53AM Tehran Time]

Confirmed: Multiple reports of protesters clashing with special security forces in front of IRIB, one of the regime’s state broadcasting channels.

Unconfirmed: Special regime forces trying to disperse the crowd in front of the IRIB building, but so far they have been unsuccessful.

More reports of casualties coming in from various areas of Tehran and in other cities.

Rumors are circulating that Khamenei has been transported somewhere by helicopter for his safety.

Multiple reports are coming in of martial law being declared in the city of Najafabad, the deceased Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s hometown.

The situation in Iran is in chaotic and in constant flux. It is not clear what will happen next, but with the killings by regime goons of protesters on the tenth day of the Moharram ceremony of Ashura, the people will likely be even more enraged. It is not clear what will come next, but it has been a monumental day in Iran.

As the day closes on the protests, one burning question remains to be answered:

- - WHERE IS OBAMA AND WHY IS HE SILENT?????

Do remember his empty words from his speech at West Point:

We must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights . . ."