Witnesses in Tehran report loud chants of allahu akbar from the rooftops tonight, while down below, on the streets, the regime has deployed hundreds of police officers to prevent possible protests.
The regime was trying to preempt what it anticipated would become another day of street protests in the capital. We haven't heard any reports of demonstrations; whether that's because the show of force was effective, or simply because there were no rallies planned, I'm not sure.
Clashes between opposition protesters in Tehran continued overnight; police have now killed at least ten people and wounded hundreds more, and the regime has rounded up a number of prominent opposition leaders, according to witnesses and opposition Web sites.
Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who continued demonstrating into the early morning hours. Opposition Web sites reported that yesterday's clashes extended well outside of Tehran; reformists reported demonstrations in Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan, Najafabad, and several other cities around the country.
Most of the deaths happened yesterday, when riot police opened fire on groups of protesters. The victims haven't been identified -- except for Seyed Ali Mousavi, the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Mousavi's family says it cannot hold a funeral for Ali because his body was mysteriously removed from the hospital.
Opposition Web sites claim that at least four people have been killed today in Tehran during pro-reform protests.
Thousands of Iranians are using Ashura ceremonies as an opportunity to stage pro-reform protests in the capital. (As always, it's impossible for anyone to accurately count the number of protesters.)
The opposition Web site Jaras claims that police opened fire on one group of protesters, killing four of them. Other opposition sites report that police are now refusing orders to shoot. One of the victims, an elderly man, was reportedly shot in the head in downtown Tehran; the others were killed near Kalej bridge.
Demonstrators have fought back against security forces, according to the AP, which reports protesters throwing stones at police and Basij and setting their vehicles on fire.
Azizollah Rajabzadeh, the Tehran police chief, denied that any protesters have been killed, according to Iranian state media.
Iranian opposition Web sites are reporting heavy clashes between security forces and reformists in Isfahan.
"Large crowds" gathered at the Sayyid mosque to pay their respects to the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, according to Rahesabz.net (فارسى). Before the ceremony started, though, uniformed security forces reportedly entered the mosque and started firing tear gas at the mourners. The street around the mosque has now been closed to traffic.
Protesters reportedly held signs criticizing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and vilayet-e-faqih, or "guardiandship of the jurists," the Iranian system of government.
Mir Hossein Mousavi has been fired from his job as the head of Iran's Arts Institution, one of his two public positions, according to the BBC.
Mousavi had run the office for 11 years before he was dismissed by the Council for Cultural Revolution, a board chaired by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The BBC describes the Arts Institution job as Mousavi's "only public post," but -- unless we're mistaken -- he also still serves on the Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader.
Mousavi's dismissal comes 24 hours after his motorcade was allegedly attacked by Basij militiamen. The opposition leader was returning to Tehran from Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri's funeral in Qom when a group of Basij reportedly stopped the motorcade, yelled insults and shattered a window.
Sources in Iran say riot police are massing in Qom, the home of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the senior Iranian cleric and longtime regime critic who passed away this morning.
The timing of Montazeri's death is potentially significant for the Iranian opposition: Yesterday was the first day of Muharram, a month that has several major Shi'a mourning ceremonies. The most important is Ashura, a ceremony commemorating Husayn's martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala. It falls on December 28 this year.
Opposition leaders could use the Shi'a ceremonies, and mourning for Montazeri, as a pretext to launch more protests. The regime cannot crack down too strongly during a major Shi'a ceremony.
Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri published another one of his increasingly blunt letters today on Mowjcamp (فارسی), a reformist Web site.
This week he denounces the Basij, the Iranian militiamen who led the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters after the stolen election in June. Montazeri faults them for acting against religion, and argues that they should pay blood money to the families of those killed or injured.
"Why do you beat people? Because they don't accept what you say? The Basij was mobilized to act in the way of God, not Satan. Isn't it unfortunate to go to hell for the benefits of others?"
The next day of pro-democracy protests, by the way, will be Dec. 7 -- Iran's Student Day, the anniversary of the 1953 murder of three University of Tehran students by the Shah's security forces.
Ahmadinejad delivered the sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran today, and he used it to call for punishments for the leaders of post-election protests -- the first time he's made such a demand.
"Serious confrontation should take place with the leaders and main instigators of the incidents. Those who provoked, organised and implemented the enemy's line should be confronted firmly."
Ahmadinejad went on to say that "those from lower ranks" and "the ones who were deceived" should be treated with "Islamic compassion." The crowd responded by chanting "riot leaders should be executed," according to wire reports.
Ahmadinejad also criticized protesters for "beating up" Basij militiamen who were "protecting people's rights." These are the same Basij, of course, who played such a key role in stifling protests after the election.
More video from yesterday's 18 Tir protests -- this one apparently of Basij militiamen attacking a cameraman (h/t Andrew Sullivan, who continues to post some good stuff about Iran in between his frequent [justified] rants about Sarah Palin):
Update, 5:36 p.m.: Gooya News has a bunch of pictures from today.
And the New York Times has some more video up from today. They're also reporting that protesters went back to the rooftops in Tehran around 11:00 p.m. local time to resume the nightly chants of "Allahu Akbar." Remember, protesters did this in 1979, during the Iranian revolution.
Update, 3:47 p.m.: An account from the AP -- this is from a protest on Vali Asr Street, the main north-south drag in Tehran:
Women in headscarves and young men dashed away, rubbing their eyes in pain as police fired tear gas, in footage aired on state-run Press TV. In a photo from Thursday's events in Tehran obtained by The Associated Press outside Iran, a woman with her black headscarf looped over her face raised a fist in front of a garbage bin that had been set on fire.
Update, 3:43 p.m.: We're hearing some credible reports of an attack on Amir Kabir University, a science and technology school in Tehran. Armed militiamen broke into dorms and assaulted students and guards; they also allegedly destroyed dorm rooms and classrooms. No idea how many students were on campus at the time.
Update, 2:39 p.m.: More video. It's shaky and only 19 seconds long, but you can see easily a few hundred people in the crowd.
The Los Angeles Times has its own rundown of the day's events: businessmen hiding protesters in their shops, riot police using tear gas, a woman being beaten.
Update, 1:57 p.m.: The BBC Persian service has a gallery of photos from today.
Update, 1:22 p.m.: A few images starting to trickle out, too.
Lots of reports on Twitter, including several from people I trust, that the protesters are chanting not just "death to Khamenei" but "death to Mojtaba" -- Khamenei's son. That's an interesting development, considering the article in The Guardian earlier today that claimed Mojtaba is in control of the Basij militias.
Update, 1:15 p.m.: I heard a lot of talk earlier today that Mousavi would make an appearance at today's rallies. So it's worth asking: Where is he? It's 10:00 in Tehran already, so he's obviously not going to show up -- is there a reason why?
Mousavi and his supporters continue to defy the Iranian regime -- but there is a growing movement to muzzle them, possibly through prosecution.
Mohammad Jaghi Rahbar, a conservative member of parliament, said today that "those who hold illegal rallies and gatherings should be legally pursued." Rahbar and several other lawmakers are preparing a formal legal complaint against Mousavi.
And yesterday the Basij asked prosecutors to investigate Mousavi's role in the pro-democracy protests. They've accused him of nine offenses, including "disturbing the nation's security," which could carry a 10-year jail sentence.
An amusing photograph of a Basij member painstakingly writing a sign (in English) reading DOWN WITH BRITISH SPY (h/t Naseem Faqihi on Twitter).
You wonder if they have a whole division dedicated to making these signs right now. Is that considered a good assignment? Are some signs a better assignment than others (oh, man, DEATH TO ISRAEL signs again?). So many questions.
Also, if you want a good chuckle, Iranian state television has some more details on the Khomeini "shrine bombing." Apparently the attacker tried to detonate the bomb inside, but the attack was foiled by Iranian police, so he was forced to blow himself up outside. (Guess that's why the blast caused almost no damage?)
This video is from yesterday afternoon in Tehran. The guys on motorcycles are apparently Basij paramilitaries (h/t Andrew Sullivan).
We're trying to get more photos and video from today's protests in Tehran.
But every indication is that police have clamped down -- hard. They're using tear gas throughout the city; in some areas, we're told, there are more riot police than protesters. Basij paramilitaries are also out in force.
We're hearing some other disturbing rumors about violence in Tehran; we're trying to confirm those.
Whether or not they're true, there is a palpable climate of fear in Tehran today. That's new: Protesters didn't really seem afraid during the last week of demonstrations.
Steve Clemons of the Washington Note relays an e-mail from a friend of a friend, an Iranian "internationalist" who has been in the country for much of the post-election tumult and says he's witnessed protesters fighting back at night against the basiji.
This appears to be video of the fight that broke out Monday at a basij building after huge protests in Azadi Square. The gunmen on the roof - who appear to be wearing uniforms, or at least some kind of official equipment - open fire at the end of the video. One man lies, apparently wounded.
New York Times reporter Neil MacFarquhar, who may or may not be surreptitiously reporting from inside Iran, wrote earlier that the basiji were expected to march today on the Expediency Council. I haven't found out if the march actually occurred, but MacFarquhar interprets the move as a declaration by the basiji that they plan to assert themselves more strongly in the coming days.
Thursday is the sixth day of post-election protests in Tehran. Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for another peaceful rally by his supporters; he's asking them to wear black in mourning for the dozens of protesters who have been killed this week.
Juan Cole has a good analysis of why the mourning is significant in Iran, a country of mostly Shi'a Muslims whose faith venerates martyrs like Imam Husayn.
Update: Here's a picture that we believe was taken in Azadi Square a few moments ago. The building in the distance, obviously, is the Basij building, and it's very much on fire.
Original post: We're getting a number of increasingly-specific reports that protesters have torched the Basij building in Tehran's Azadi Square using Molotov cocktails.
On a related note, Mousavi asked his supporters this evening to confront the military with "flowers, not guns."
We've been talking about the Basij a lot since Friday; if you don't know what that is, here's a quick primer.
The Basij is essentially a large paramilitary force -- a militia -- organized after the 1979 revolution. It's under the control of the Revolutionary Guard, the elite branch of Iran's military that wields sizable influence over politics and the economy. Membership is mostly those too old or too young for military service.
Their role in Iran has expanded during Ahmadinejad's presidency; human rights groups say the militia is frequently used to stifle student protests and other forms of dissent.
