What Happened Today

Here is a quick run down of what we know:

Today is Qods day in Iran which is the last Friday of Ramadan. It is a yearly day of protest in which the regime encourages people to come out in support of the people of Palestine and denounces Israel. The opposition claimed that Qods day is a day against tyranny and oppression wherever it occurs and so they announced they would protest the regime.

Reports are still coming in, but evidence shows that there was a fairly large opposition presence in protests throughout the country in cities such as Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan. The protesters had the color of the opposition which is green and shouted slogans against the regime. Sometimes the regime would want people to shout "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" but the people would respond "Death to Russia" because it is widely viewed in Iran as supporting the regime.

The top three opposition figures of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Khatami all joined the people for the protests. However reports indicate that government thugs were going to attack them so they were forced to flee while their supporters fought off the agents of the regime.

Ahmadinejad gave a speech in which he repeated his normal rhetoric against Israel, but it is clear that no one is paying much attention. The mainstream media so far has been doing a poor job at reporting and has mainly paid attention to Ahmadinejad's speech which quite frankly is perhaps the least important development of the day.

It is difficult to get an estimate of crowd sizes throughout the country, but it is fair to say that it is substantial. The opposition has successfully co opted a government day of protest against Israel into a protest against the government. Developments are still coming in so stay tuned and we will see where the Green Movement goes from here.