iran unfiltered

A video has been circulating on the internet of a scene in the northern city of Rasht, in which a morality police team tries to detain a young woman for her dress but is confronted by the woman's mother and an angry group of bystanders, forcing it to flee:

We continue to be puzzled by the government's recent stepped-up campaign of hijab enforcement.  The ruling clique seems to have achieved political calm on the surface, so it would make sense to give the people some social breathing room.  From its perspective, why antagonize people like this and risk re-igniting the people's anger that is lying low at the moment? 

Diaspora Iranians staged protest rallies in a number of cities around the world Saturday.  A sampling:

London:

New York:

More after the jump.

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Several video clips of the small, scattered protests and clashes today in Tehran are circulating on the internet.

More after the jump.

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A small group of protesters greeted Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a speaking engagement in Dublin.  Two managed to get inside and interrupt the event (with one of them bringing up the regime's recent execution of four Kurdish activists); both were roughly thrown out by Mottaki's bodyguards.  We are at a loss as to why the Irish police guards present neither took care of the ejections themselves nor stepped in when the bodyguards looked like they were handling dissent as if they were in Tehran.

Here's the video:

There are widespread reports of strikes in several cities in the Kurdistan region (including its largest city, Sanandaj) to protest Sunday's execution of four Kurdish activists.   

Examples of photo/video evidence currently circulating online that back up the reports:

The tense calm in Iranian universities was shattered yesterday when Ahmadinejad decided to pay a surprise visit to Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The students weren't thrilled to see him, particularly since his visit follows the execution of five Kurdish activists over the weekend. 

CNN reports on the events:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's unannounced visit to Tehran University Saturday prompted a student protest:

The last chant in the clip is "Students, workers, unity, unity" in a nod to the fact that the rally took place on May Day.

The funeral proceedings for Mah-Soltan Rabbani, wife of the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, were attended by a large crowd despite a heavy government security presence.  Below is a clip of the scene at Qom's Masoumeh shrine; while not explicitly denouncing the regime, the slogans have a definite political and opposition bent. 

According to Ahmad Montazeri, about 30 mourners were arrested by security forces.

While their number and frequency have certainly dwindled in comparison to the few months immediately after the stolen June election, students continue to protest on university campuses.  This week, students at the Iran University of Science & Technology held a vigil to commemorate what would have been the 27th birthday of Kianoosh Asa, a student killed by government forces in the post-election unrest:

Students at Babol University (in the northern city of Babol) also held a protest:

Anti-government protests took place in several cities around the world on Thursday.  A few examples:

London:

Berlin:

For more videos from other cities, click here.

Video below of rooftop protests tonight in Tehran.  They were reportedly not as loud and enthusiastic as on previous occasions, perhaps reflecting the glum mood of the opposition after today's events.

Another new slogan heard today, as seen below, is "We haven't sacrificed the dead in order to compromise, [or] to praise the murderer supreme leader":

Another video showing clashes in Tehran.  At about :55, the protesters charge toward the security forces and are met with the sound of bullets; it's not clear if these were live bullets or paintball pellets to identify protesters for subsequent arrest.

A new protest video in which protesters clash with security forces and shout "Basijis have gone wild":

More videos from Tehran:

Chants of "Political prisoners must be freed":

Crowd appears to be attacked by security forces: