PROTESTOR KILLED AT IRAN DEMONSTRATION…. Iranian officials made it clear, not only that reform protests were prohibited, but also that demonstrators might face security forces firing live rounds. To their enormous credit, throngs of Iranians took to the streets today anyway, and one protestor was reportedly killed for his efforts.
Hundreds of thousands of opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied an Interior Ministry ban Monday and streamed into central Tehran to cheer their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since elections that he alleges were marred by fraud. Gunfire from a compound used by pro-government militia killed one demonstrator.
The outpouring in Azadi, or Freedom, Square for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — swelling as more poured from buildings and side streets — followed a decision by Iran’s most powerful figure for an investigation into the vote-rigging allegations.
Here’s guessing people who feel like a presidential election was just stolen don’t have much confidence in the integrity of the looming investigation.
With regards to the shooting, an AP photographer reported seeing “one person shot and killed and several others who appeared to be seriously wounded in the square. The gunfire came from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.”
Also note this dramatic footage, shot by an Italian journalist on his phone, showing police on motorcycles charging at protestors.
