Hillarysworld

This took place on 9/18/09:

Tens of thousands of people wearing green accessories -- the sign of the opposition -- have come out on to the streets of Tehran and other major cities for the first mass protests against the Iranian government in two months.

Clashes were reported between the opposition protestors and supporters of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, backed by police and Basij militia vigilantes. It is not yet known how many protesters were arrested.


The protesters took advantage of the officially sanctioned observance of Quds (Jerusalem) Day -- on which Ahmadinejad denounced the Holocaust as a "myth"-- to assemble without immediately being spotted and stopped by the police.

Shouting slogans, the protestors denounced Ahmadinejad as stealing the June presidential election: "Liar, liar, where is your 63 percent?"

They also demanded the release of thousands of people arrested in government crackdowns on previous rallies against Iran's contested presidential election results.

Demonstrations also took place in other major Iranian cities including Isfahan, Mashhad, Qom, Shiraz, and Tabriz.





One woman protester told RFE/RL's Radio Farda by phone that "thousands of people" are out in green, including Mehdi Karrubi, a former speaker of parliament and opposition leader. She did not give her name for fear of being later identified by the police.

"People are now heading to Karimkhan Square. I can tell you that from Vali Asr Square to Karimkhan Zand Square all is covered in green," she added. "The conservatives are much fewer than the reformists."


Karrubi has led opposition charges that some of those arrested in earlier protests were raped in jail -- charges that have deeply divided the Iranian public over the government's treatment of the opposition movement.

But the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that leading opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi was forced back by hard-liners when he also tried to appear. The agency said government supporters attacked his car, shouting "death to the hypocrite," until he drove off, unhurt.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Protesters_Take_To_Streets_Of_Tehran_Other_Cities/1825818.html