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Liveblogging

Best overviews, timelines, news aggregators and continuing coverage.

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Twitter

During the election, the Iranian government cut off access to telephones, text messaging, Facebook, YouTube, and opposition websites - but not Twitter. Apparently, because its API enables its use across many servers and clients, they're having incredible trouble shutting it down. As a result, Twitter is literally the central hub for the entire movement.

#iranelection Widely considered superior to any mainstream media coverage as a realtime news source. Emerging cliché: "The revolution will be Twittered."

#iranrevolution Proposed successor to #iranelection, since the uprising has grown beyond the election alone. Still catching on.

Individuals inside Iran (h3x.no):

_ StopAhmadi DC protest leader, reliable updates.



Change_for_Iran University student, covered Ansar-Hezbolah attack on dorms.



tehranelection Tehran resident, first reporter of burned ballots, satellite confiscation.



persianwiki Tehran resident, participant in Azadi Square rally.



Mousavi1388 The Mousavi campaign itself. Has been providing updates since main website was hacked.



madyar



parhamdoustdar



Bahram81



IranElection09



Please recommend more, I failed to record the names of prominent sources throughout Monday.



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Timeline

The following timeline is not a journalistic record of events. It is based on my review of the sources listed above; I credit them collectively. The timestamps are local, represent my hasty estimates, and are rounded to the nearest half-hour. Please do not hesitate to correct, amend and update in the comments.

Friday, June 12th: Election Day

Toward the end of polling hours, the Ministry of Interior is fortified by concrete barriers. Security forces, both plainclothes and armored in riot gear, flood the streets. The Mir-Hossein Mousavi campaign claims to have been informed of their victory by Grand Ayatollah Khameini, but told to remain discreet. That night, campaign offices were ransacked.

- 11.00pm | Polls closed. Text messaging blocked.

Saturday, June 13th

Mousavi supporters - mainly students - take to the streets of Tehran in protest immediately following news of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's imminent reelection. Protesters organize using Twitter, the only social networking service still available; supporters outside Iran use Twitter to provide the addresses of proxy servers in order to keep information flowing out of the country. On the ground, they clash with police officers, some of whom are captured, protected and cared for (the famous Men in Green and Black photographs). Police motorcycles, other vehicles and dumpsters are burned; traffic is obstructed, and car horns are sounded in protest. By the end of the first day, it is speculated that 50-100 are dead or seriously injured. Meanwhile, Syria, Egypt and Palestine recognize Ahmadinejad's victory. Twitter users worldwide tag messages with "#CNNfail" to express displeasure with the failure of American television networks to cover the situation; Twitter itself is looked upon as the principal source of real-time news.

- 12.00am | Ahmadinejad and Mousavi both declare victory.

- 5.00pm | Khameini calls election for Ahmadinejad.

- 9.00pm | Facebook, other websites blocked. Kourabi calls for resistance.

- 10.00pm | Ahmadinejad gives victory speech. Association of Combatant Clerics calls for cancellation of election results.

- 11.30pm | Committee of Election Monitoring declares election invalid.

Sunday, June 14th

On the first night, deafening chants of "Allahu Akbar" are heard from the rooftops of Tehran. In his first post-election press conference, President Ahmadinejad declines to guarantee the safety of his opponents. Unrest is reported in Shiraz, Zahedan, Karaj, and Esfahan. Some police forces are identified as Ansar-Hezbollah agents, and in some cases are said to be Arabic-speaking. Banks and government buildings are torched; two police stations are rumored to have been occupied by resistors. Demonstrations in support of civilian protesters erupt in major cities worldwide, including Washington, Toronto, New York, Sydney, London, Paris and Dubai. President Ahmadinejad holds large victory rallies, but is accused of importing supporters from rural areas and ordering government employees to attend in order to boost the numbers. The siege of Tehran University, which will leave anywhere from 6-17 students dead and over 100 arrested, begins. On Twitter, supporters pledge to wear green clothing on Monday as a symbolic gesture. The reporting of a defensive CNN is considered to improve vastly.

- 12.00am | Tehran now isolated from telephone, satellite TV, international radio. Rafsanjani resigns from Expediency Council in protest.

- 2.00am | Khatami's brother, other political figures arrested.

- 2.30am | Mousavi, associates under house arrest. @tehranelection reports ballot burning.

- 6.30pm | 120 faculty of Sharif University resign in protest.

- 7.00pm | First round of "real" election results leaked, with Mousavi (19m), Karoubi (13.4m), Ahmadinejad (5.7m), Rezaei (3.8m).

- 8.00pm | Mousavi calls for peaceful Valiasr Street March, followed by General Strike. Shots heard near Metro Station in Tehran.

- 8.30pm | Grand Ayatollah Sanei calls for election to be invalidated. Leading Mousavi protest leaders are lured into a trap and arrested at campaign offices.

- 9.00pm | Khameini approves Ahmadinejad victory a second time. Mousavi's wife repeats calls for march, strike.

- 11.00pm | Karoubi marches from Tajrish to Vali Asr. Second round of "real" election results leaked, showing Mousavi winning 57-28.

- 11.30pm | Twitter protesters organize worldwide Denial-of-Service attacks on state websites.

Monday, June 15th

Rooftop chanting continues unabated for the second night. Tehran residents make a practice of leaving their front doors and gates open to provide safe haven for street protesters. In the morning, Mousavi meets with Khameini, who agrees to a probe into the allegations of election fraud but demands that protesters remain indoors and respect national security. President Ahmadinejad receives recognition from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and North Korea. Radio Free Europe reports clashes between protesters and forces of the Basij in Tabriz, Mashad, and Ahvaz. The main event of the day is the march on Tehran, which is attended by as many as 3 million people, and features appearances by Kourabi, Khatami, and Mousavi. Several universities postpone their exams by up to a month. The continuing silence from President Obama is controversial among supporters both inside and outside Iran.

- 12.00am | Foreign media expulsion begins. Canadian journalist George McLeod detained and interrogated. Rezaei letter contests election.

- 12.30am | BBC now reports Rezaei backing Ahmadinejad.

- 1.00am | Parents gather outside Yousef Abad police station, call for aid from Obama.

- 2.00am | German TV crew arrested. Shortly, Germany challenges election results, summons Iranian ambassador.

- 3.00am | University of Tehran dorms attacked by Ansar-Hezbollah, while police quarantine area. Violence also reported at Shiraz, Isfahan University of Technology. Police escalate to use of rubber bullets. Protesters are denied access to hospitals, being told "you deserve to die."

- 3.30am | European Union issues ambiguous statement taken as recognition of Ahmadinejad. Tehran Bureau begins experiencing DoS attacks; Iranian government suspected.

- 4.00am | @Change_for_Iran reports capture of at least two police officers by university students.

- 5.00am | Tanks sighted in Tehran; locations uploaded to Google Maps.

- 7.00am | Updates from Mousavi, "under extreme pressure to accept the results of the sham election." Plans to go ahead with protest despite being denied government permission.

- 3.00pm | Khameini blinks, announces investigation into election "irregularities." Mousavi website hacked with false cancellation of protest.

- 4.00pm | Tehran march begins. Protestors initially clash with police, but as the crowd grows, security forces stand down. Mousavi speaks.

- 8.30pm | Basij fire on crowd in Azadi Square. 7 dead, many wounded. Crowd storms Basij headquarters and kills commander. Protest dissolves into chaos.

- 9.00pm | 119 resignations from Tehran University faculty.

- 11.00pm | Mousavi formally asks Guardian Council to cancel election results.

Tuesday, June 16th

Rooftop chanting continues on the third night. Protesters successfully persuade Twitter to postpone their maintenance downtime, originally scheduled for 9.15am local time (it is later revealed that the Obama administration played a private role). President Obama issues his first direct statement, expressing support for the civil rights of voters while respecting Iranian sovereignty and emphasizing that the outcome must be their decision. France and Britain also declare their support for the opposition. On the ground, it is a night of chaos, with constant gunfire, arrests and severe violence, particularly in Isfahan. Hospitals observe an increase in injuries; in the morning, doctors and nurses are seen protesting outside a Tehran hospital, mourning the loss of patients. The government strikes back against organizers on several fronts, with intimidating phone calls, misinformation in the Twitter stream, and mass arrests, notably in Rasht, where ten people were arrested at Gilan University, while new press restrictions inhibit almost all journalism. On the resistance side, the general strike is successful, but the rally in central Tehran results in violent clashes and disperses. On the whole, this phase results in at least 8 deaths. Later, however, protesters regroup in northern Tehran for a peaceful silent march. Finally, Iran's military powers begin stirring: army leaders are said to have met in secret to discuss their position, and police forces intervene against the Basij.

- 1.00am | Shiraz University closed.

- 1.30am | President Obama's statement.

- 2.00am | Anonymous government official claims (via Twitter) that he was ordered to report false results.

- 5.00am | Spiegel reports 5,000 Hezbollah have been brought in for a "showdown."

- 6.00am | Resistance manifesto surfaces: promises removal of Khameini, constitutional reform.

- 8.00am | 16 Revolutionary Guard officers are arrested, suspected of intent to join the resistance movement.

- 9.00am | Clerics of Qom back Mousavi.

- 9.30am | German camera technicial released. Ahmadinejad arrives in Russia.

- 10.00am | Former Vice President Abtahi arrested.

- 11.00am | Tehran Bazaar closed. Roads out of the city are blocked.

- 12.00pm | Guardian Council approves vote recount, rules out annulment.

- 2.00pm | Mousavi calls press conference in Tehran for 3.30pm. It is unclear if this took place.

- 3.00pm | Ahmadinejad supporters march from Vali-Asr to Vanak, at the same time and place as the planned Mousavi rally. Expecting a violent clash, Mousavi attempts to cancel rally.

- 5.00pm | Major clashes with Basij in central Tehran. Government announces new restrictions on journalists: no pictures, no film, no reporting from the streets. Protest leaders, including Mousavi campaign's Twitter feed, continue to encourage supporters, who wear black to respect yesterday's fallen.

- 6.00pm | Two more Reformist politicians arrested.

- 7.00pm | Larijani committee on University attack confirms four dead (three men, one woman).

- 7.30pm | Basij gather outside Tehran University dorms.

- 8.00pm | Protesters regroup in northern Tehran; BBC witness reports rally larger than Monday's.

- 8.30 | Protest forms outside state broadcasters' headquarters against media crackdown. Head of Shiraz University resigns.

- 9.00pm | Statement from Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, designated by resistance as replacement Supreme Ayatollah. Asks government to restore people's confidence or lose legitimacy; urges protesters to "continue reclaiming their dues in calm"; asks police and military to "recognize the protesting youth as your children."

- 10.00pm | Police arresting Basij. Joint statement by Mousavi and Khatami condemns mass arrests.

- 10.30pm | Baharestan Sqare protest; 150k near parliament buildings.

- 11.00pm | Security moves into newspaper offices.

- 11.30pm | Khameini meets with representatives of the four candidates, calls for unity.

Wednesday, June 17th

Rooftop chanting continues unabated for the fourth night. Following fatalities during the battles of the previous day and night, Twitter users solicit first aid tips over #gr88medical. With the late success of Tuesday's peaceful rallies, two more are planned for Wednesday (5pm, 7 Tir Square) and Thursday (2pm, bolvare sharzad sazmane melal).

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