As violence and unrest continues to spread, opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi urged supporters on Wednesday to stage protests or gather in mosques tomorrow. These events would be staged to mourn those already killed in protests since last weekend's disputed election.
On his web site, Mousavi said:
"A number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred. I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families ... by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations."
Mousavi added that he himself would take part in the mourning.
In response to both a call by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei call for an inquiry, as well as in an attempt to calm citizens, protesters and the opposition party, the main electoral authority, the Guardian Council, said on Tuesday it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim issues.
However, the Guardian Council in the past has declared support for Ahmadinejad. Mousavi noted this and asserted they were hardly impartial.
Despite the calls for a full recount and many protests, it's not as though the government doesn't have its supporters, or at least can get a semblance of them into the streets. On Tuesday afternoon, the government organized a large rally in Tehran. Thousands waved Iranian flags and pictures of the supreme leader.
Iran has withdrawn the media credentials of most of the mainstream press in the country. Much of the news coming out of the country is via Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites.
The escalation of violence is likely to continue, not abate. This despite the fact that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued to emphasize that the candidates need to resolve these issues via legal avenues, not protests and riots.
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