Clashes erupt in Iran as night falls on election anniversary

Source: CNN

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Saturday began with calm on the streets of Tehran but clashes erupted later in the day between Iran's security forces and crowds of people gathering at the key sites to mark the first anniversary of a contested presidential election.

The first clashes Saturday were reported at about 6 p.m. as uniformed riot police and plain-clothes security forces chased away growing crowds along the sidewalks of Tehran's Vali Asr Square, witnesses said.

Witnesses told CNN they saw several people struck by batons as they were running away. They said that at least three men were arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed and swept away by security officers on motorcycles.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/06/12/iran.anniversary.clashes/?hpt=T3

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The government will be more prepared than they were a year ago, I assume. But the protesters might be, as well.

But tensions began to rise around 4 p.m. when a large number of security forces, riot police and members of the Islamic government's voluntary Basij forces filed into major squares and intersections, including Vali Asr, Azadi Avenue, Azadi Square and Revolution Square.

Police blocked part of a road leading to Revolution Square and traffic backed up for blocks, witnesses said. Scores of Basij and other security forces were seen waiting inside several mosques and schools near major intersections.

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"There is fear," said Azadeh, a 30-year-old bank teller in Tehran, who asked to be identified by an alias for fear of her safety. "I can't say I'm not scared, but you still have to go out -- because that's what the government wants, for you to be afraid and not continue. But we have to."

for the Green!

...it seemed clear to me that the Islamic Republic was relatively stable and that the opposition had effectively isolated itself by allowing itself to be tarred as "pro-Western." I hope that next time an opposition emerges, it doesn't hitch itself to neo-liberal austerity economics and Western policy. It's the working people that must be won over, not the students.