From what my sources tell me, they are mostly confined to certain section of Tehran and a few other urban areas where Moussavi had support among students and a portion of the city's middle class. The working class areas of Tehran and most other urban areas as well as the rural countryside went solidly for Ahmadinejad and are quiet.
As yet, the police have confined their response to the most egregious outbursts and are acting with a certain restraint...allowing a certain blowing off of steam. One indication of what may be coming is that foreigners are being targeted, rounded up and sequestered, which could be a sign of a major crackdown if things get out of hand. If it gets to that point, look for the basiji militia and the Pasdaran( Revolutionary Guard) to come in and suppress things with major brutality.
Moussavi has reportedly been arrested for contesting the election results and being a general nuisance, and ominously, his chief backer Ali Akbar Hashemi Rasfanjani has resigned his position with the government - or more likely, was told to leave.
Was the `election' stolen? I think you have to actually have one before that can happen. The candidates were handpicked and only allowed to run for office by the express permission of the Supreme Council of Guardians and its leader Ayatollah Khamenei after agreeing to follow orders. I personally think that at the very most Moussavi might have been able to force a runoff - if there was actually a real election.
it's important to realize anyone who thinks that Mousavi being 'elected' would have marked any change to some kind of new order in Iran is simply kidding themselves.Like Ahmadinejad, Mousavi is a proponent of Islamist triumphalism and terrorism, a hardliner on Iran's illegal nuclear weapons program and an anti-Semite who has called for the Israel to be destroyed.The main difference was one of social class and `image'.
Moussavi was on the ballot for one reason only - in case the Mullahs felt it might be better to have a new face up front instead of Ahmadinejad to buy a bit more time until Iran's nukes are completed.
After President Obama's act of abasement in Cairo and his clear signals that he's prepared to live with a nuclear Iran, they obviously felt no need to make the effort and came down solidly on the side of Ahmadinejad.
A bit of irony - Ahmadinejad’s re-election slogan was “Ma mitavanim” (We can).Just like Obama’s “Yes we can”.
Iran is a theocracy, ruled,ultimately, by Allah and his representatives here on earth, the Mullahs. The Islamic revolution is what's important, and that trumps everything. Hoping for any kind of reform through what passes for Iran's electoral process is an exercise in futility, and it will only happen if the Pasdaran and the armed forces either join a revolt against the mullahs or stand aside, as they did in 1979.
As Stephen Hayes over at the Weekly Standard suggests, this would be a good time for another speech by Mr. Hope n' Change, this time addressing the democratic and dissident elements in Iran and pledging solidarity from the United States in their struggle for freedom.
Needless to say, that probably isn't the sort of stuff Barack Hussein is made of, as he's announced that he's going to 'keep engaging' with the mullocracy.
He obviously doesn't understand that a regime that doesn't hesitate to lie and deceive its own people for its avowed greater purpose is going to have no problem whatsoever reneging on any agreement it makes with the Great Satan.
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