I am a little late with this, but it needs to be spread:-

[flyboy_fox]

If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.

They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with fervor as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmadinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmadinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite, and websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmadinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.

Mousavi requested that the government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. People are being brutally beaten. Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran no older than I am. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.

For more information:
PICTURES:
here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi, @ProtesterHelp

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

- original post by one_hoopy_frood

Comments

[ketunhenki.livejournal.com]

I've been kind of following this. It's just sad how this happens, but they're holding strong. I hope they get the problem solved. It's ridiculously unfair, seriously. D:

GO CIVILIANS GO! D8 And the fighting may hopefully stop.. >:

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

The sheer courage and strength of will of these protesters is a real beacon of hope despite the crushingly unfair circumstances.

GO CIVILIANS GO!

[radioactivepiss.livejournal.com]

I can't even follow the election related stuff with this. (Aside from anything else, foreign countries judging others' elections for them reeks of 'the West should be policing the Middle East' to me and makes me ._.)

But the aftermath just... horrifies me. I've been watching ontd_political and the twitters and- god, it's awful. The death count's up to at least 30 now, probably more. Now that is something I think everyone has the right to judge, no matter what country they're in.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

I've been on the edge of my seat regarding this ever since I heard about the first protester who was shot. Since then, the scale of the repression and the resistance has only grown.

It's definitely something the world needs to know about.

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

I hope we'd have the same here in .ru soon.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

You mean election result protests?

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

Yeah.
"United Party" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Russia) and her members sometimes get 97% "for" votes which can't be true.
See translation of russian wikipedia article starting from "14 Views of Party" for some examples.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

*Nods* Yeah... I have heard a lot about that too. It makes me feel fortunate to live in a country where there's at least some transparency surrounding our elections...

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

Obama!!!
:D

Yeah, and GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

I work for UK, if you remember that ))

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Haha, the Queen is just a figurehead... she doesn't really do anything. But I guess she's still an important tradition..?

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

> But I guess she's still an important tradition..?
For foreigners like me? Definetly. I love beautifull and attractive traditions. Although she doesn't play a role in politics, she and all related to her is a history... and attracts tourists ))
Having real (is it? your opinion, pls) democracy in UK, when politicians even return to the budget every penni they've spent for watching 18+ TV, because they are RESPONSIBLE to people who elected them and to the whole country - that is one of your great achievements.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I think the British government has its flaws, but I also think that we in Britain are incredibly lucky to have such an open and transparent democratic process. It is real democracy... and perhaps the absolute democracy is a problem sometimes (for example, a far-right Nazi party recent won seats in the European Parliament). But overall, I am VERY glad that Britain has this democracy!

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

But usually Russians are long suffering :( It's quite hard to make people go to the streets and current goverment doesn't usually allow that (especially covering themselves by new laws against extremism).

[(Anonymous)]

I've heard a lot of terrible stuff about the Russian electoral process, including people being blackmailed by their employers to vote for specific political candidates or risk losing their jobs, forced to take pictures of their votes as proof, etc. I wish you all luck, and every day I'm thankful that I at least live in a country that values the pretenses of freedom.

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

*my head has been a bit burned by the expression "country that values the pretenses of freedom" before I've understood the meaning )))*

UK citizen?

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I guess it's important to remember that there are many oppressive governments; not just the one that happens to be in the news right now.

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

But.
Some oppressive government, like in South Korea, North Korea, China, USSR (1917- ~1975), Japan (1946 - present(!)), Ancient Egypt in the past, makes and forces the country to become stronger, to create and invent technologies, to jump over the technological gap in short period of time. Why not?
// my opinion.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

That is also true. There are two sides to every coin. Still, I personally value human rights and freedom above industry and technology. But I know both are vitally important to the wellbeing of a nation.

[romik-g.livejournal.com]

Blue blood, Crusades, moldering castles in Europe, early North America - almost all continents go thru the similar historical processes :(
Hard to learn by others mistakes. History is kinda ring.

[way-past-cool.livejournal.com]

Yes! Spread the word! I'd post it in mine too bit it would be redundant cuz I don't have anyone on my friends list that you don't XD; But I'm here to wave the flag of support!

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Hurrah!