Yesteday’s stunning surprise announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner of the Iranian election has led to protests and riots in Iran, news agencies are reporting. Some of these riots are getting violent. Some pictures are here.
Here is a report by a NBC producer in Iran:
What started off as a small rally outside a pro-reformist newspaper swelled into a massive crowd of people chanting, “Death to the dictator, death to Ahmadinejad!”
Then, what started with a small amount of police pushing the crowd back turned into huge riot police in armored gear and motor bikes beating all the young students here with batons, knocking them back. The students responded by throwing stones, which the police then threw back. Now the police are coming off all the heart streets and main streets to try and disperse the crowd. But this is an unprecedented scene in Iran today.
Iranians are highly skeptical of the vote result:
Asked if he believed the election results being reported by Iran’s Interior Ministry, Arouzi sounded highly skeptical. “If you were in Tehran the last few days, you would think it impossible that Ahmadinejad won,” he said. “Everybody we spoke to was a supporter of Mousavi.”
Some videos (there are more at the link):
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In this second video, police are seen running away from protesters (beginning of the video).
Update: It’s looking more and more like this election was definitely stolen for Ahmadinejad. CallerRick is definitely right in pointing out that the real power in Iran rests with Ayatollah Khameini. More from the Huffington Post:
3:41 PM ET — Potentially stunning development. The National Iranian American Council links to a Farsi language story saying the President of the Committee of Election Monitoring has requested that the election be canceled.
Hojjat-ol-Eslam Yali Akbar MohteshamiPour officially requested that the Guardian Council to cancel this election and schedule a new election balanced and moderated democratically with the widespread and national presence of the people.
Also from NIAC:
According to Mousavi’s website, a group of employees in the Ministry of the Interior in an open letter warned that the votes have been changed and manipulated in the state election commission. In this letter, which was addressed to the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the President, the of Majlis of Iran, the heads of the legislative and judicial branch and several other government agencies, a group of employees stated that “as dedicated employees of the Interior Ministry, with experience in management and supervision of several elections such as the elections of Khamenei, Rafsanjani and Khatami, we announce that we fear the 10th presidential elections were not healthy.”
Juan Cole also reacts with some evidence that the vote was stolen: Stealing the Iranian Election.
1. It is claimed that Ahmadinejad won the city of Tabriz with 57%. His main opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is an Azeri from Azerbaijan province, of which Tabriz is the capital. Mousavi, according to such polls as exist in Iran and widespread anecdotal evidence, did better in cities and is popular in Azerbaijan. Certainly, his rallies there were very well attended. So for an Azeri urban center to go so heavily for Ahmadinejad just makes no sense. In past elections, Azeris voted disproportionately for even minor presidential candidates who hailed from that province.
2. Ahmadinejad is claimed to have taken Tehran by over 50%. Again, he is not popular in the cities, even, as he claims, in the poor neighborhoods, in part because his policies have produced high inflation and high unemployment. That he should have won Tehran is so unlikely as to raise real questions about these numbers.
…
6. The Electoral Commission is supposed to wait three days before certifying the results of the election, at which point they are to inform Khamenei of the results, and he signs off on the process. The three-day delay is intended to allow charges of irregularities to be adjudicated. In this case, Khamenei immediately approved the alleged results.
This was rather poorly done. Why give Ahmadinejad such a large margin? If you’re going to steal the election, at least make it look plausible.
More at the link.
Update #2: The BBC reports that “official” election results have Ahmadinejad winning Mousavi’s home district. I call bullshit.