E-Mail From Tehran: 'It Just Felt Great' To 'Scream And Protest!'
Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi march in Tehran today. Olivier Laban-Mattei/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
From Tehran, here is an update from the same person who e-mailed me earlier today. This person, who asks not to be identified for his/her protection, was at the protest in Azadi Square by those who say incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not fairly elected in Friday's voting:
We took part in the big rally today, it just felt great to be there among those people and yell and scream and protest! We had to walk for three hours to get to Azadi Square and that was really exhausting, but everyone was so happy and energetic! Not only students, but also many housewives and old people participated! I wish I had a camera!
We were thousands, or I guess maybe a million! ... And this was despite the fact that we have very little (in the way of Internet) networks to connect to other people. Many people just didn't know about today. ...
I got home before (the shootings), but a friend of mine was there. I've heard they shot more than a hundred times. ...
People have decided to take tomorrow off. ... No one is going to work or school. I'm not sure how successful it will be. Also, we're gathering in our universities (only in the yards and mosques, not the buildings) from 9:00 a.m. until nobody knows when! Leaders say not to leave our schools since school is still a holly place and THEY would not break in.
It's Davar again:
As night falls on Tehran, Twitter seems to be the only social networking site that the authorities have not shut down. Many are writing about their experiences in Azadi Square. Here are some tweets:
"In tehran Every Body Scream AllahoAkbar on The Roof ".
"Our friends were beaten brutally today in azadi sq. and this was a peaceful and silent rally. oh god. what a nightmare".
"Don't think a human life is worthless, the fact that he gives his life for freedom is priceless".
You can find more tweets from Tehran at these Twitter addresses:
@iran09
@amiralii
@mousavi1388
@gkarbaschi
(Davar Iran Ardalan is supervising senior producer of Weekend Edition. )