Tehran’s ‘Sea of Black’

Tehran’s ‘Sea of Black’

Unrest in Iran continues as demonstrators took to the streets on Thursday to protest against the presidential election results. This is the nation’s biggest crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

June 18, 2009 1:32 by Dana El Baltaji

Reports of arrests in Tehran and a crackdown on social networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook, have also sparked outrage among Mousavi supporters.

Hundreds of Iranian protesters in Dubai gathered outside of the Iranian consulate to demonstrate against the election results and the violence toward Mousavi’s supporters.

A protester explained the intensity of Iran’s police brutality. “My family was standing next to the police station in Azadi Square, and they killed a guy right in front of them,” recounted Mohammed, a 24-year-old university student in Dubai to Abu Dubai-based daily The National. “My sister and mother were screaming. It’s horrible.”

Another supporter, Sara, who wore a mask to conceal her identity, is frustrated with the media blackout in Iran.

“I’m really worried about them, my friends and my family, because I can’t talk to them,” she said. “The SMS system has been completely disabled, no texts are coming through, the internet is not working all the time, and it is impossible to get through on the mobiles. The only way of contact is on the landlines, but that takes a couple of hours of trying.”

“All forms of communication are being monitored, so getting through to them is largely dependent on luck,” she added.

“Even over there, they also have no idea of what is going on because the television stations are just showing movies, not the news. And if they do show the news, it’s only Ahmadinejad saying that everything is fine and the elections were fair.”

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Tags: Hossein Mousavi, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, politics, presidential elections, protests, unrest