[liberationtech] Iran’s Opposition Wields Stones and Cameras

[Yosem Companys]

Iran’s Opposition Wields Stones and Cameras By ROBERT
MACKEY<http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/author/robert-mackey/>
[image: On Monday, Iranian opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi mourned
the death of his nephew Ali Moussavi, who was killed at a protest on Sunday
in Tehran.]Kosoof.com On Monday, Iranian opposition leader Mir Hussein
Moussavi mourned the death of his nephew, Ali Moussavi, who was killed at a
protest on Sunday in Tehran.

*Last Updated | 6:32 p.m.* On Monday, as more opposition figures were
arrested <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/world/middleeast/29iran.html> in
Iran, Iranian bloggers continued to upload video to YouTube that appears to
document the violent clashes between protesters and the security forces on
Sunday in Tehran and other cities.

Severe restrictions on reporting by foreign and independent journalists in
Iran have made it difficult to verify many of the text, photo and video
accounts of the clashes uploaded to the Web by opposition supporters, but
the Iranian government’s attempt to keep professional journalists off the
streets may have backfired in that the demonstrators instead document their
own protests and use Web sites like YouTube and Facebook to broadcast the
videos.

Among the most remarkable new images to appear on Monday is the scene
captured in this clip, apparently shot on Sunday in Tehran, of a
confrontation between stone-throwing protesters and the security forces that
appeared to end with the shooting of a demonstrator whose bloody face is
shown in a graphic close up near the end:

Since so many cameras, often in cellphones, can be seen recording the same
scenes of protest in much of the video appearing on YouTube, it may not be
surprising that the end of this scene, which appears to show (in graphic
detail) the face of a badly injured protester, seems to have been captured
from a second angle, in this clip uploaded to the Web on Sunday:

(More footage of the clash at this same location is embedded in the updates
further down in this post.)

Many more clips that appear to show Sunday’s clashes are still being
uploaded to YouTube channels used by opposition supporters — like Green
Unity 4 Iran <http://www.youtube.com/user/GREENUNITY4IRAN#g/u>, Mehdi
Saharkhiz <http://www.youtube.com/user/onlymehdi#g/u> and Freedom Messenger
20 <http://www.youtube.com/user/freedommessenger20#g/u>.

Another striking video is this one, singled out by the blogger Mehdi
Saharkhiz, the son of an opposition politician in Iran, which apparently
shows a wounded member of the security forces being protected from further
violence by a green-clad protester on Sunday in Tehran:

*Update | 5:12 p.m. *Thanks to the readers who pointed to two more videos of
interest.

This clip appears to show Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, among the demonstrators in Tehran on Sunday:

Earlier this month, video of Ms. Hashemi attending another demonstration in
Tehran<http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/latest-updates-on-new-protests-in-iran/#t13h50m>,
during protests to mark Iran’s Students Day, was posted on YouTube.

The same reader also made us aware of these
photographs<http://bit.ly/6HKTz2>by the photographer Arash Ashoorinia,
which were posted on an Iranian blog
on Monday and reportedly show the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi
mourning with the family of his nephew, Ali Moussavi, who was killed at a
protest on Sunday.

(Mr. Ashoorinia’s photoblog, Kosoof.com, appears to be inaccessible at the
moment, but his photographs of Sunday’s clashes in
Tehran<http://www.payvand.com/news/09/dec/1274.html>can be seen on
Payvand.com.)

This clip, also dated Sunday, appears to show a member of the security
forces in Tehran losing his motorcycle to a crowd of protesters, after
either crashing or being knocked off his bike:

Judging by the signs on the storefronts visible in the background, it seems
likely that this video was shot at the same location in Tehran as the first
video embedded at the top of this post, which also shows clashes between
protesters and members of the security forces on motorcycles.

This photograph also seems to have been shot at the same location (before
the same storefronts) on Sunday in Tehran:
[image: Members of Iran’s security forces clashed with protesters on a
Tehran street on Sunday.]Reuters Members of Iran’s security forces clashed
with protesters on a Tehran street on Sunday.

*Update | 6:32 p.m. *Another reader draws out attention to two more videos
that appear to show later moments in this same confrontation between
protesters and members of the security forces.

The reader suggests that this video may show what happened when the
protesters cornered some members of the security forces in front of a gate
on the same street:

According to the description of this video accompanying the clip on YouTube,
the protesters can be heard asking the cornered riot police officers, “Why
do you do this to your people?” and the officers ask for forgiveness, saying
“bebakhshid,” which means “sorry.”

The same reader points to this clip, of the confiscated motorcycles on fire
and suggests that “the storefront the riot police are backed in to appears
to be the one with the yellow decoration, which is about 4 stores to the
right of the iconic Pink awning visible in this video.”
 VIDEO AND MORE HERE:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/irans-opposition-wields-stones-and-cameras/
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