Thousands march in silent Tehran protestCNN: 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... The gathering is officially meant to honor Mohammed Beheshti, who was killed in a bombing on this date 28 years ago.
AP: Witnesses said riot police used tear gas and clubs to break up a crowd of up to 3,000 protesters who had gathered near north Tehran's Ghoba Mosque... Some described scenes of brutality, telling the Associated Press that some protesters suffered broken bones and alleging that police beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back...
Witnesses said the protesters also chanted, 'Ya Hussein, Mir Hossein,' linking Mousavi's first hame with a highly revered Shiite saint, Imam Hussein -- the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a symbol of personal sacrifice for a cause. [Video here.]
Mousavi, meanwhile, signaled anew he won't drop his political challenge. In a new statement, he insisted on a repeat of the election and rejected a partial recount being proposed by the government... For the first time since the election, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke publicly... claiming that 'suspicious hands' were trying to open rifts between the people and the Islamic system.
Video reportedly from today's march. This video shows Mehdi Karroubi, the other reformist candidate who has allied himself with Mousavi, participating in the march.
Christian Science Monitor: 'It's the scale of the arrests that's so incredible,' says Babak Rahimi, an American academic... 'The last time there was something close to this was the 1999 student uprising -- but then it was just the students. Now, we're talking about leading reformist politicians, 40-something journalists, everyone's at risk.'...
A source close to Mousavi says that the first and second circle of people around Mousavi have all been arrested or put under house arrest. Mousavi himself has limited ability to communicate with his team and his followers. The lack of leadership is visible on the streets, where demonstrators exhibit unparalleled will and courage, but lack direction and guidance...
In the case of journalists more generally, 'this is the widest crackdown that I can think of in memory... says Frank Smyth, [security coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists]. 'The scale of the arrests is extraordinary. At the moment there are more journalists in custody in Iran than anywhere in the world.'...
'It's like the disappearances [under former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet] in the 1970s, we simply don't know anything about the circumstances of their detentions,' [Mr. Rahimi] says. 'One guy who was arrested and released told me there's a large prison in the basement of the Interior Ministry. Another journalist went into hiding when the Basiji came to arrest him at his house -- even his wife doesn't know where is now. There's something mafia-like about the messages the government is sending now, you know, 'we're going to get you and your family.'
Getty image: Israeli woman at a June 27 demonstration in Tel Aviv.
