The police are using teargas and beating up demonstrators:
Clouds of gas or smoke filled intersections around Enghelab Street, which links the two main squares where an opposition protest was scheduled to take place. In one square, a crowd of about 4,000 and 5,000 people was attacked by clusters of militia forces on motorcycles and on foot, witnesses said.
This video from yesterday shows a woman being beat up by militia:
Some of the tweeters report today that demonstrators have been shot at, and that the shooters are targeting people’s feet.
Twitter’s real-time #iranelection feedereader shows the latest tweets coming in (h/t Hugh Hewitt).
John at Powerline asks why is Obama AWOL on Iran? John postulates five reasons:
1) America is or has been evil, so it should do little or nothing in the world
2) Obama is just a cautious guy who avoids risk at all costs.
3) Obama has no idea what to do about Iran, and he knows it.
4) Obama is bold when it comes to domestic policy but considers anything that happens in a foreign country an unwelcome distraction.
5) Obama can’t be in favor of democracy because Bush was for it.
You can answer John’s survey over at Powerline. I’d go with a combination of 3 and 4: cluelessness as to what to do because of are trying to be exclusively a domestic policy president.
UPDATE
This just in, at the Wall Street Journal
Police Clash With Protestors in Iran
Mousavi Repeats Demands for New Election, As Security Forces Use Tear Gas, Water Cannons on Supporters
Obama doesn’t want to opine because he no doubt knows that eventually, there may be such an uprising against him in the U.S.
Obama is in the process of setting himself up as a dictator and tyrant a la Hugo Chavez.
There were similar protests in Venezuela against Chavez. He brought in Cubans, Iranians, and foreigners to help put down the Venezuelan people.
Is Obama about to do the same thing by extending Amnesty? Are all those who will receive it people who have been here for a long time? Or will some be new arrivals brought in to help him put Americans down!
The U.S. is supposed to stand with all Freedom loving people in the world! We must stand by and help the people of Iran fight off the tyranny of the Mullahs!
Wow, now I know what my gardener is whispering to his workers. They’re plotting on taking over the US and sending all the roads and scenic views back to where they were stolen from. Pres Obama is making it mandatory that the guy using the leaf blower is also receiving training in using encrypted radios and M-16s. Are they also going to be issued chrome helmets like the one Sinclair Lewis described. Yowza, it can happen here!
Our False Prophet appears to have no idea what a golden opportunity he’s passing up… overthrow this evil, terrorism-exporting enemy without firing a single shot… get their Armageddon-inspired nuke program off the world stage… and free 30 million people all at one time.
But the boy wonder is too stupid to see it… or somehow just doesn’t care?
And isn’t this what George W Bush told you was going to happen in the Middle East in the wake of Iraq’s liberation?
Maybe that’s why Barack Obama has so little apparent interest in finishing the job in Iran… no matter how much it benefits the US and free world.
That, and the fact that he’s already piled all his chips on legitimizing this vile regime- a democratic revolution at this point would be embarrassing.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/