Mousavi Appears Says "I Am Prepared For Martyrdom" UPDATE: Western Governments Meddling? Embassies Taking In Wounded ?

Above the post update:

A change in tone?

According to niac crowds are chanting

“I welcome death I welcome death But not subjugation But Not subjugation”

Kind of like a Persian version of "Give me liberty or give me death" isn't it?

No, I'm not saying they want a US kind of government. I have no idea what they want, neither do 'they'. Revolutions generally aren't about creating a specific type of governing system, it develops later (see the American Revolution and the government that finally emerged, it took awhile to get there). On a human level, I'm saying this is a good start and they deserve a chance to work it out. On a policy level, this is our best chance to see a change that could really reshuffle the deck in the middle east for the better.

Original post:
The last post was getting a little unruly so I'm setting up a new one.

There are numerous Twitter reports (so grain of salt alert) that Mousavi is on the streets and telling protesters he is ready for "martyrdom". Nico Pitney at Huffington Post (I know) has a good round up.

CNN now has a report saying that Mousavi is saying the election was rigged in advance and wants a revote.

There's no doubt the regime is cracking down violently on the protesters. Anyone heard from the President of the United States lately?

There were reports that helicopters were dropping boiling water on protesters. Now it seems that it's a chemical agent that makes it feel like the skin is burning. Lovely.

I've changed the headline because it seems Mousavi's appearance and statement have been confirmed. It could be circular reporting of a rumor but it seems to be the case. The statements have appeared on Mousavi's website, so that's his official position.

BBC video of street fighting (The embeding function is disabled) as pointed out by Anti-Harkonnen Freedom Fighter.

UPDATE: Numerous reports that western embassies are taking in wounded protesters and they are even posting addresses so people know where to take injured.

If this is true and again, sorry to be a broken record but it's a huge if, then Obama's silence is even more damning. Of course we don't have a diplomatic presence in Iran but the least we can do is say something positive and we aren't.

Below, video said to be from today's protests. There's no way to confirm the date but if it is today, it's clear a lot of people showed up and that the police weren't able to prevent them from at least starting. Again though, no way to know for sure the date of the video.

CNN reporter had an interesting take on this video. There aren't any banners or flags like we've seen before. Perhaps that was part of the effort to get past security...carry nothing incriminating.

posted by DrewM. at 10:55 AM

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