Tehran police shoot dead four protesters, reports say
Robert Tait - The Guardian, UK
Dec. 27, 2009
At least four people were reported dead today after Iranian security forces opened fire on opposition protesters who took to the streets in Tehran for a religious ceremony.
The shootings took place as tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the capital for the Shia Ashura ceremonies and to voice anger at the government.
An Iranian police officer, pictured in a white shirt, is protected and taken away by people after being beaten by protesters in Tehran Photograph: AP
The reformist website Rah-e Sabz reported that an elderly man was among the dead after being shot in the forehead at a crossroads in Tehran city centre. Three others were said to have been shot nearby at Kalej bridge, in Enghelab Street. Rah-e Sabz, citing witnesses, said crowds held up the elderly man and started chanting slogans against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Crowds prevented security forces from taking away those wounded in the shootings. According to other eyewitness reports, members of the hardline Basij militia attacked demonstrators with daggers and knives. Disturbances were also reported in Isfahan and Najafabad, where the Rah-e Sabz described the situation as "severe".
Najafabad, birthplace of the dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died last Sunday, has witnessed several outbreaks of unrest in the past week. Today's religious ceremonies – marking the 7th-century death of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hossein – coincides with the ritual seven-day mourning ceremonies for Montazeri, who had repeatedly criticised the government and denounced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election last summer as invalid.
Ashura ceremonies commonly feature vast crowds of people marching and beating their chests in memory of Imam Hossein, who is seen as a martyr against oppressive government. This year the opposition pledged to use its voice to continue opposition to the government.
The authorities responded by warning of a huge crackdown. Hospitals and emergency services were put on alert to expect large-scale casualties.
The authorities are taking a risk in using lethal force against protesters during the Islamic Moharram, during which war and bloodshed is deemed to be religiously haram, or forbidden. It raises the likelihood of a series of mourning cycles, as required by Shia tradition. It was such a mourning cycle that fatally undermined the Shah's regime when it tried to suppress demonstrations in 1978.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/27/four-killed-iran-protests/print