Protestors Taking To The Streets In Iran Again

Iran has exploded once again with reports via Iranian tweeters that clashes have broken out:

AP reports clashes protestors with Basij at demo today. Tear gas, broken arms and legs

More on the protest:

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — About 5,000 protesters marched slowly and silently through Tehran on Sunday near a mosque where the government was allowing a demonstration for the first time in days.

And this from tweeters:

Authorities are riding on motorcycles alongside the marchers, who are telling each other to walk slowly and drag their feet. Police are telling the demonstrators to move faster.

The marchers are walking from north to south down a major street, Shariati Street, near the Ghoba Mosque, where a memorial is being held in honor of a hero of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Some of the protesters are telling the police that they have the legal right to protest in peace.

And:

Amnesty International said Sat that gov forces are preventing drs from getting names from wounded demonstrators or asking how they were hurt.

Iran intensified its crackdown over the weekend, reportedly seizing wounded protesters from their hospital beds of the youth

Meanwhile Iran is arresting westerners:

Iranian authorities have detained several local employees of the British Embassy in Iran, a move that Britain’s foreign secretary Sunday called “harassment and intimidation.”

Iranian media reported Sunday that eight local embassy staff were detained for an alleged role in postelection protests, but gave no further details. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the employees were detained Saturday, but did not say how many were taken into custody.

The detentions signaled a further hardening of Iran’s stance toward the West which has become increasingly vocal in its condemnation of a crackdown on opposition supporters.

And through it all Obama comes out tough on Hondurans, something it took a week or more for him to do on Iran:

President Barack Obama is calling for all sides in Honduras to respect democracy and the rule of law following the arrest of President Manuela Zelaya and his reported expulsion to Costa Rica.

Obama says any disputes must be settled peacefully through negotiations that are free from outside interference.

White House officials say Obama spoke with his national security adviser, James Jones, about the situation on Sunday morning. Aides from several agencies are monitoring the situation and providing updates to Obama, Jones and Jones’ deputy.

Zelaya was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum. He had insisted on holding the vote even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it.

UPDATE

latest update from The Times:

Riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters near a mosque in north Tehran on Sunday, using tear gas and truncheons to break up Iran’s first post-election demonstration in five days, witnesses said.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that some protesters fought back, chanting: ”Where is my vote?” They said others described scenes of brutality — including the alleged police beating of an elderly woman — in the clashes around the Ghoba Mosque.

The reports could not immediately be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

And:

Clashes around Ghoba mosque have intensified & forces are heavily beating people to disperse them.

New picture out of Iran:

Another video from today, people yelling “death to dictator”: