During the last few days, Iran held her elections for presidency. It ended with the previous president Ahmadinejad emerging victoriously with about 66% of the votes; however, the votes were rigged and the results are most likely faked. While this was somewhat expectable, the reaction to it was not.
Apparently the charade was terribly obvious (the consistency of the votes for him as more votes were counted for example, or the fact that also bastions of the opposition were claimed to have voted primarily for Ahmadinejad), and the Iranian people did not just accept such a betrayal.
Yesterday night, the followers of the moderate opposition leader Mousavi (who lost with just 33% officially) took their anger to the streets. Giant demonstrations filled the streets of Tehran, its roofs were filled with people chanting the likes of "Allah is great" and "Death to the dictator". Bloody riots and clashes with the police ensued, the latter which also massively operated against the opposition, allegedly putting around 160 people, including Mousavi, under home arrest.
Right now, the country and especially its capital are in a state of chaos bordering civil war. All cellphone networks have been shut down, major news websites and social networks from all over the world have been blocked, the people opposing Ahmadinejad's regime are communicating primarily through Twitter, foreign journalists are more and more suppressed and forced to leave the scene.
Ayatollah Khameini backed the government of Ahmadinejad and urged the people to follow suit, yet it appears not he can calm the minds of the ones betrayed of their rights and fooled by their leaders. Mousavi already pledged for a revotum and a nullification of the current ones, while Ahmadinejad still denies anything negative - at the sight of people streaming through the streets, half in flight of the police, but full of enthusiasm and courage.
Not only because of a change in the rule of the country might ensure a more peaceful situation in the area especially for Israel, but primarily because of sympathy for these brave people standing up for their rights and democracy, not willing to let a warmongering regime oppress them by ignoring their voices I root for these people. While their chances of success are rather low and this might turn into another Tiananmen, I still wish from the bottom of my heart that they're successful.
Some links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/i...e_n_215189.htmlhttp://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post_13.htmlThis post has been edited by P.P.A.: Jun 14 2009, 08:04 PM