Iran's Revolt: The Second Day

UPDATES AS I FIND THEM: (Latest ones at the top)

Again from Michael Totten. Loaded with information sampled below.

"Defrauded opposition candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi belongs to the establishment. The regime is coming apart and turning on itself. Even clerics are turning against the “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei."

Crowds on rooftops chanting in the middle of the night:

"There are widespread reports of police and security forces, around Tehran and other big cities where there have been demonstrations, who are not Iranian and either speak Persian with a very pronounced Arab accent or speak no Persian at all."

And this one is worth a link of its own (via Totten):

Yes. Steeling an Election and Imposing Ahmadinejad is Rather Significant

"Remember, too, before taking this step, the regime's leaders calculated they had nothing to lose internationally. What could that mean except that they hadn't planned on making nice with the West in the first place and also that they don't take Western pressure--at a time when there's so much talk of engagement, apology, and appeasement in the air--as a serious threat?

So now are we going to see an all-out effort to conciliate with the Islamist regime which has just signalled its intentions in the clearest possible terms? For goodness sake, is there truly no limit?"

---------------------------------------
Government banks and buildings were torched

"Iranian cities were awash with riots and sporadically violent demonstrations on Sunday in the second day of clashes following the declaration of hard line President Mahmud Ahmadi Nejad's landslide reelection."

---

"Parents were throwing bricks with their children," Shoja said. "Lots of government banks and buildings were torched and another night of violence is expected."

---

"Car horn protests could be heard throughout the city, as could chants of "Bye bye dictator", "Ahmadi Nejad is the biggest liar in Iran," and "The president is committing a crime and the supreme leader is supporting him".

---

"Ashtary spoke of the profound shock felt by many of Iran’s youth. "We expected the elections to be fixed to a degree but we were not expecting it to be fixed on this level," he said. "I know hundreds of people who had never voted but did this time, and 90% of everyone I spoke to said they were voting for Moussavi. It is almost impossible to believe that Ahmadi Nejad won.""

---

"With over 75% of the Iranian population under the age of 30, the success of Moussavi's modernized, Internet-driven campaign in attracting young Iranians was seen by many as a sign that the candidate would win a landslide victory.

"Nobody can win the elections without young people," Hossein Bastani, an influential Iranian blogger on the editorial board of the Iranian journal Rooz Online, told The Media Line. "It's young people managing all these reformist campaigns.""

---

"Protesters were mobilizing for another night of protests. Whether the youthful anger and protest will submerge the country or settle into a disheartened resignation remains to be seen. As one young Iranian, Mehri912, wrote on Twitter, “If Iran sleeps tonight, it will sleep forever”."

---------------------------------------
Iranians Protest Crackdowns

Protests in major cities around the world planned, including Toronto.

And just in case you don't know what it's like, watch this interview by Anderson Cooper of Ahmed Batebi.
----------------------------------------------------

Opposition Members Are Detained In A Tense Iran

There isn't a single paragraph in this one that should be left out, so rather than reposting the whole article, just read the whole thing. This one isn't over yet, folks.

Disputed Iranian ballot complicates US diplomacy

Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that efforts to engage Tehran, with the central goal of halting its pursuit of nuclear weapons, will continue. But the charges of vote fraud and the battles between police and opposition protesters appear to be major setbacks for the new U.S. administration's policy.

President Barack Obama already is under renewed political pressure at home to get tough with Iran.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Sunday the Iranian rulers had stolen the election and made a mockery of democracy. He urged Obama to speak out in defense of silenced Iranian demonstrators, but he offered no concrete steps to strengthen the U.S. case."

Video from a British reporter on the scene.

Winston also has more. Watch for updates at his blog and at Azamehr's and be sure to read the comments at each of these blogs.

I'm so hoping I can blog on Iran's full scale revolution very soon. Revolt is only a tool in the direction of revolution. Theocracies have no place in the modern world.