Iran Reports 7 Deaths in Mass Protest Against Vote Result

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arrived in Russia Tuesday, Iranian state radio reported that seven people were killed in clashes overnight, ramping up tensions after days of unprecedented demonstrations which have forced a formal review of elections results.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Tehran had witnessed the largest demonstrations since the 1979 revolution with hundreds of thousands of people from across Iranian society pouring into the streets to protest what they charge were fraudulent results in Saturday’s presidential election.

The state radio announcement of the seven deaths provided no details of who the victims were or how they had died. Monday’s protests were believed to have been largely peaceful and only one death had been reported previously,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was compelled to respond to the popular and sustained defiance and called Monday for a formal review of the results, the first hint that the government might fear it could not control the crowds.

But Mr. Ahmadinejad’s decision to leave the country on a previously scheduled visit to Russia and carry on as head of state, threatened to inflame voters, who already had grown incensed when the president compared them to angry soccer fans whose team had lost.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arrived in Russia Tuesday, Iranian state radio reported that seven people were killed in clashes overnight, ramping up tensions after days of unprecedented demonstrations which have forced a formal review of elections results.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Tehran had witnessed the largest demonstrations since the 1979 revolution with hundreds of thousands of people from across Iranian society pouring into the streets to protest what they charge were fraudulent results in Saturday’s presidential election.

The state radio announcement of the seven deaths provided no details of who the victims were or how they had died. Monday’s protests were believed to have been largely peaceful and only one death had been reported previously,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was compelled to respond to the popular and sustained defiance and called Monday for a formal review of the results, the first hint that the government might fear it could not control the crowds.

But Mr. Ahmadinejad’s decision to leave the country on a previously scheduled visit to Russia and carry on as head of state, threatened to inflame voters, who already had grown incensed when the president compared them to angry soccer fans whose team had lost.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society. Source: The New york Times

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