"The People No Longer Fear"

The Iranians are revolting against religious authoritarianism and for a democracy. It's about time. An older man screamed to the police “Aren’t you ashamed to beat and kill your own people?” But where is Obama? The leader of the greatest democracy on the earth and he's AWOL on the most important rebellion against tyranny at least of the decade. Who are you? What do you stand for?

...Analysts heralded the start of what could be a bloody endgame as hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters poured on to the streets of Tehran and other cities and fought running battles with the security forces. Opposition websites claimed that some policemen had refused to fire on demonstrators.

Foreign journalists have been banned from Iran but Western newsrooms were inundated with mobile telephone footage of astonishing scenes: jubilant demonstrators attacking riot police and Basij militiamen, protesters gleefully setting light to a police station, Basiji building and motorbikes being captured from the security forces, detained protesters being freed from a police van while colleagues are carried away with blood pouring from gunshot wounds. Dozens were injured and more than 300 arrested. “The gloves are off. There is no question about that,” said one analyst. Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews, said: “No one can now doubt that change is coming.”...

A leading opposition activist claimed: “The regime is on borrowed time. The entire country is beginning to rise.” ... Read at Times Online.