Iran Security Moves to Crush New Protests in Tehran: Via NYTimes.com .

Security forces began clashing with protesters shortly after they began massing in the streets of Tehran on Thursday evening, as an initially festive demonstration quickly turned grim, witnesses said.

Tear gas was fired into Lelah Park, they said, and a woman whose coat was covered in blood ran from Revolution Square, one of the main gathering spots during the initial weeks of protests over the June 12 election. She said that police officers were beating protesters.

It was the first protest in 11 days, and was called to commemorate the 10th anniversary of violent confrontations at Tehran University when protesting students were beaten and jailed. Iranian authorities had announced earlier that the demonstration was illegal and would be met with a “crushing response.”

But at the end of the work day, hundreds of protesters began packing the streets of one area of Tehran, chanting, clapping and sitting in jammed traffic as drivers honked their horns, witnesses said. Families brought their children. Many held a hand in the air in the defiant V for victory.

The security forces quickly moved in.
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Protests in Iran on key reform anniversary: Via CNN.com .

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian pro-government Basij militia members dispersed crowds of protesters in Tehran Thursday -- sometimes with force -- according to a journalist on the scene.

The demonstration is taking place on the 10th anniversary of a student uprising that, at the time, posed the biggest threat to the Islamic regime since its inception in 1979.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people crowded the streets and headed toward Tehran University, the site of the 1999 student uprising. Several protesters were hit on the arms and backs by the Basij, the journalist reported. The militia tried to convince one man, whose face was bleeding, to get into an ambulance but he refused.

Earlier the commander of Iran's security forces warned that police would "strongly confront" anyone planning to protest on the anniversary of a pivotal point in Iran's reformist movement.

In an interview with the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Maj. Gen. Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam said authorities would confront protesters and that no demonstration permit had been issued for Thursday.
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Le Figaro article: Doctors denounce terror in the hospitals - Why We Protest - IRAN: Via Le Figaro / Why We Protest .

What follows is a rough translation of this article Le Figaro - International : Des médecins iraniens témoignent de la répression in Le Figaro

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Iran: Doctors denounce terror in the hospitals

Delphine Minoui Jul 6, 2009

[Caption: A wounded demonstrator, June 15th 2009, in Tehran. Since the beginning of the protests, militias have demanded that hospitals turn over lists of all wounded they treat.]

During a stop in Paris, they denounce the climate of terror holding sway in the hospitals where the wounded from the last few week’s anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrations were taken.

They have seen too much. Fearing reprisal, they kept quiet. But while stopping in France for a few days, they wanted to tear down the wall of fear. At any cost. “In Tehran, we were powerless witnesses of a true crime against humanity”, protested one of the doctors, who we met this weekend in Paris, and who prefers to remain anonymous for reasons of personal safety. “Since the beginning of the anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrations, militias and secret police have imposed a policy of terror in the hospitals. They stalk the wounded without mercy”, he said.
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Lawyer for British Embassy worker jailed in Iran is optimistic: Via Los Angeles Times.

The arrest of Hossein Rassam and his colleagues has boosted tension between Iran and the West over the June vote. Tehran has accused London of fomenting post-election unrest.

Reporting from Beirut — The lawyer for a British Embassy employee in Tehran arrested and under investigation for subterfuge today refuted reports that his client had been formally charged, saying he was optimistic the Iranian national would be released in the coming days.

Authorities today also blocked access to the website of a pro-reform group of seminary scholars in the holy city of Qom that has joined other reformist clergy in sharply criticizing last month's vote as authorities continued a crackdown against supporters of failed presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who has alleged massive fraud.
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UK seeks Iran trial clarification: Via BBC NEWS | Middle East.

British diplomats are trying to establish whether Iran intends to act on its threats to prosecute staff from the UK's embassy in Tehran.

On Friday, a top cleric said some staff members would be tried for inciting protests over Iran's disputed election.

Iran says the UK is trying to undermine the Islamic regime by fomenting discontent - a charge Britain denies.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband says he is "deeply concerned" and has asked for talks with his Iranian counterpart.

'Confessions'

Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after June's presidential election, amid claims the vote had been rigged in favour of the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Read Original Article:(Via BBC NEWS | Middle East.)
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