The Persian Abyss: Iranian reactions from across social media outlets

Following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 'landslide' victory in Iran's national elections on Saturday, reports of violent protests - with video and photo evidence - have circulated at breakneck speed on Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets as well as on non-mainstream media websites.

News that Ahmadinejad was re-elected for a second presidency term when his main rival Mir Hossein Mousavi was expected to win, largely due to the 'young' vote, drew thousands into the streets of Teheran and across other cities in Iran to demonstrate on Saturday and Sunday. Anti-riot police have reportedly wounded dozens of male and female protesters. The riots have been described as the worst seen in Iran since the student protests of July 1999.

The disappointment in the recent election results has been rampant among Iran's young, educated population. As one 'facebooker' put it: "This is not the will of the Iranian people; they are mostly in shock or despair, and the braver ones are being mercilessly beaten on the streets."

Twitterers, facebookers and bloggers from Iran and across the world have been logging minute-by-minute accounts of what has happened since the election results were announced. Some Twitter feeds from Iran such joined the social network mere hours ago have already amassed thousands of followers. A cursory search on Twitter of #iranelection turned up thousands of entries in real time, including videos, pictures and blog articles. Iranians have used Twitter to announce various gatherings and to recount eyewitness reports of people being beaten by police.

 Click here to join the Facebook group The Green Revolution: I support the Iranian protesters.

For an sharp account of why social media is important in times like these, see Andrew Sullivan's The Revolution will be Twittered on The Atlantic's The Daily Dish.

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Last update tonight 23:14pm: Reports: violence escalating in Iran. Twitterers have logged entries such as:

URGENT JUST IN, TANKS in front of the interior ministry of tehran in valiasr st. & fatemi cross CAREFUL #iranelection [22:59pm]

It is shocking, where did all these police forces and riot polices come from? #iranelection [tweeted 30 minutes ago]

I'd like to sign off here by saying that Twitter has been an integral part of what is happening in Iran right now. With many websites and other communications networks shut down, it seems the Iranian regime has not been able to rein in the amount of information that had been made available on Twitter, by Iranians and by people across the world showng their support. It has drastically changed the way people consume news about important events.

Update 22:00pm: Video: Students attacked at university dorm by police in Isfahan show cuts and bruises from beatings:

Update 21:31pm: Twitterers have been slamming CNN for the past 24 hours  plugging their tweets with #CNNfail to highlight CNN's lack of coverage on the Iranian riots following the elections. Here are some of the more amusing (and not so amusing) taunts:

DEAR US (gov not ppl) & MSM [mainstream media]: for years you want us to rise up. Now we do and you do NOTHING to help/support. SHAME. #iranelection #cnnfail

#CNNfail Some suggest CNN failure in Iran is because of US-Iran relations. History says Brits are even more despised, yet BBC gets the story [tweeted at 21:49pm]

CNN loved Twitter... until they got put on blast for not covering the "news" #iranelection #cnnfail

INTERESTING: Dear CNN, Please Check Twitter for Iran News http://tinyurl.com/mfr2oo (also check @ITwitius for #Iranelection) 

CNNFail! Twitter slams CNN. http://bit.ly/B66Te #Iranelection #CNNFail

WTF! Now the #Iranelection is CNN's top story...I really want to know who the executive producers are.. #Cnnfail [a few minutes ago]

Update 21:22pm: On news services, articles and blogs worldwide, Iranians have been asking 'Where is my vote'. There is now an official 'Where is my vote' site , where protests across the world are being organized and their details posted.

Update 21:10pm:  Tweeted one hour ago -

Students & people fighting back a large group of police & Basij [volunteer-based paramilitary force] right now at university of physics! I'm going to join them. #iranelection

Update 18:21pm: Video: Riot police swarm crowd in Teheran. One police officer caught by rioters.

Iran's deputy police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that about 170 people have been arrested for their involvement in Saturday's protests. He said 10 of those arrested were "main planners" and 50 were "rioters." The others were arrested for being at the site of the clashes, he said. Some of the detained were active in Mousavi's campaign headquarters or had relations with foreign media, he said.

Update 17:44pm: US Vice-President Joe Biden on the Iranian elections [AP]:

Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he had doubts about whether Iran presidential election was free and fair, though the US must accept "for the time being" Tehran's claim that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a resounding re-election.

He said the Obama administration's interests regarding Iran were the same as before the disputed vote: persuading Tehran to stop development of a nuclear weapon and end its support for terrorism. Iran denies both allegations.

The US is trying to understand whether the vote accurately reflected Iranians' response to President Barack Obama's effort to open a dialogue after a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, Biden said during an interview on NBC television's "Meet the Press."

"That's the question," Biden said, adding: "Is this the result of the Iranian people's wishes? The hope is that the Iranian people all their votes have been counted, they've been counted fairly. But look, we just don't know enough" since Friday's vote.

While Ahmadinejad insisted the results showing his landslide victory were fair and legitimate, Biden simply said, "You know I have doubts."

"It sure looks like the way they're suppressing speech, the way they're suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there's some real doubt about that," Biden said.

"I don't think we're in a position to say. What surprised me in that the assertion that he won by what 60 some percent of the vote, and so I think we have to wait and see. But it didn't seem on its face to be as clear cut."

The vice president tried to follow a careful line, however, given the administration's attempts to engage Iran.

Update 17:32pm: Tweeted a minute ago:

Haha, Ahmadinejad with green shawl! #iranelection

Green has been the color used by Mousavi and his supporters throughout the election campaign.

Update 17:05pm: Support rally for Ahmadinejad underway in Teheran, as seen on Iranian PressTV. Thousands reportedly in attendance.

Update 16:40pm: According to a Reuters report, Mousavi is calling for election results to be canceled, in a letter released on his campaign website. This letter is being circulated as an unofficial English translation of the Farsi original, in which he says:

I officially ask the Guardian Council...to nullify the outcome of this election and I regard this as the only possible way for regaining the people's trust and cooperation with the government...."

Mousavi has reportedly not been seen in public in over 24 hours.

Update 16:20pm: A tweet from ABC News senior foreign correspondent: "#iranelection Ahmadinejad supporters crowding in main square, we've seen Mousavi supporters on the way"

From TehranBureau:

Ghalam News, Mousavi's official setad [campaign] site, has officially confirmed the march along Valiasr Street tomorrow (Monday) and a  national strike on Tuesday. ...

There is another rumor going around that the basij [volunteer-based paramilitary force] has stationed SNIPERS on Valiasr [street dividing the metropolis into western and eastern parts. It is considered one of Tehran's main thoroughfares and commercial centres: Wikipedia] ... this may be a scare tactic rumor, but it is not unlikely ... which makes things so much more deadly. This should also be warned so people see how brutal the regime is prepared to be - worse than the Shah's army.

Read the rest here.

Update 15:34pm: [Twitter] "BBC Persian: [rival] Karoubi does NOT recognize Ahmadinejad as Iranian President, and declares the election VOID. #IranElection"

Update 15:28pm: Latest videos of Teheran protests.

Update 14:40pm:  Farsi-speakers on Twitter translating excerpts from Ahmadinejad's press conference:

Ahmadinejad quote just now: "Don't worry the world is moving towards peace and justice" #IranElection

Ahmadinejad: "Who dares attack Iran? Who dares even think about it? [..] the world is moving toward justice & dialogue." #iranelection"

Nejad:our governing will be different from previous years.The way our nation looks at the world is completely different #iranelection

Ahmadinejad: Protests don't matter http://tinyurl.com/nnk97x #iranelection 

Update 14:18pm: Ahmadinejad speaks at press conference in Teheran: "Iran won't submit to international bullying relations. The elections were an epic moment for Iran. The Iranian nation has showed that today they are more determined than any other time. The Iranian nation showed that it believes in logic and dialogue in a fair environment. Iran won't allow others to decide for it."

Photo:AP

Ahmadinejad rejected charges that the elections were rigged: "The West believes in a democracy that is aligned with its desires. It is not clear on what basis they are questioning the results. The election process in Iran is very accurate since the election belongs to the people. The people are those who supervise the elections. Our elections are rooted in ethics."

Watch the full speech here, translations by CNN.

Ahmadinejad is due to attend a victory rally this evening to celebrate his reelection.

Update 13:23pm: [From Twitter, unverified] "Reports from friends in Iran: Tanks are in Tehran's streets #IranElection - scary if true!!"

Update 13:05pm: There have been reports that mobile phone networks and some websites, including Facebook, have been blocked inside Iran. It seems that Twitter has survived as tweets from Iran has been coming in every few minutes. Reporters Without Borders has published a list of blocked websites and news outlets.

Update 12:00pm: Mousavi arrested, 100 reformists rounded up. Brother of former president Khatami reportedly among the detained.

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Below are some  examples of what is going on in Iran. Some content may be unsuitable for certain viewers. This page will be updated as more photos and reports come in.  

The blog Revolutionary Road has been widely circulated due to the images and videos available from Saturday's protests:

Thousands of angry people have massed in Tehran to protest at the election result, with some pelting stones at baton-wielding police."Down with the dictator!" shouted the crowd as they streamed into one of the capital's main squares after latest results showed incumbent hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had secured a landslide win. Hundreds of other people also gathered near the interior ministry in central Tehran, shouting: "Death to the dictator!"

Click here for the rest.

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Tehran24 also has an impressive collection of photos:

See here for the whole album.

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Violent Protests in Shiraz overnight Saturday

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Massive protest in Teheran street

People running from riot police

Police beat demonstrators, as caught on the BBC Persian

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At TehranBureau.com, an election chart has been released showing questionable election data. The chart has not been verified; it is for show only and has also been widely circulated:

The best evidence for the validity of the arguments of the three opponents of the President for rejecting the results declared by the Interior Ministry is the data the Ministry itself has issued. In the chart below, compiled based on the data released by the Ministry and announced by Iran's national television, a perfect linear relation between the votes received by the President and Mir Hossein Mousavi has been maintained, and the President's vote is always half of the President's. The vertical axis (y) shows Mr. Mousavi's votes, and the horizontal (x) the President's. R^2 shows the correlation coefficient: the closer it is to 1.0, the more perfect is the fit, and it is 0.9995, as close to 1.0 as possible for any type of data.

Statistically and mathematically, it is impossible to maintain such perfect linear relations between the votes of any two candidates in any election - and at all stages of vote counting. This is particularly true about Iran, a large country with a variety of ethnic groups who usually vote for a candidate who is ethnically one of their own.

For more details on the figures, see the NYTimes' Roger Cohen who released a video report on the "suspicious elements" surrounding the Iranian elections.

Stay tuned for more updates.