The Dish

Fresh off YouTube:

A reader writes:

Greetings from Shanghai. I don't think you're on twitter, so I thought I'd give you a head's up on something pretty amazing. The hashtag #CN4Iran – designated by Chinese twitter users offering support to the Iranian uprising – is a trending topic on the twitter top 10  of trending topics. Ahead of Avatar, Singapore Idol, and Sezairi. Needless to say, twitter is blocked in China (though easy enough to get access to it). An absolutely incredible development.

IranNewsNow – which has tracked protest footage better than anyone this morning – passes along a heartbreaking clip. The footage – like everything we post off YouTube – should be viewed with skepticism. But here it is (viewer discretion advised):

Several well-sourced Dish readers are relaying the unverified news. One writes:

According to a Farsi source, Mousavi’s nephew (his sister’s son), Seyyed Ali Mousavi, has been killed in today’s events.

Another writes:

Mousavi’s 20 year old nephew , Ali Mousavi, was killed around noon. Mousavi is in the hospital himself right now.

Another:

friend watching BBC in Iran says they are reporting Mousavi’s nephew was among those killed today – possibly from opposition website

We will update with confirmed details. Update: the second reader adds:

BBC and ParlimanNews (the official website of minority reformists in the parliament) and Kalameh, the closest website to Mousavi. All reporting

A reader writes:

Watching your continuing coverage of the people of Iran continuing their fight for freedom I was struck, and touched, by the presence, in every picture, in every piece of footage, by the universal presence of cellphones and cameras. No matter how chaotic, no matter how frightened they may be, the protesters held their phones high. Not a brave few but a brave many pressed into the violence, stood right next to the regimes thugs and pointed their cameras. It seems like the ultimate act of defiance; no matter how you try to shut us down or shut us up, we will expose you. You can kill us, but the world will know that we never stopped fighting.

I urge you to continue to use your platform to show us this incredible fight. Before this started, the people of Iran seemed alien and vaguely threatening. Now, I see a young woman, veil shoved back and cellphone in the air, and this lefty atheist woman sees a sister clear across the world.

(Iranian protesters wipe the bloodied face of a man who was allegedly shot during an anti-government protest in Tehran on December 27, 2009.  -/AFP/Getty Images)

Another must-see video (and not for the faint of heart):

Josh Shahryar notes that the building ablaze is a police station.

Iranians flee a familiar feature of the past six months:

"Frightening, apocalyptic video: tear gas covers the sky — so thick that sky is black," IranNewsNow says of the following:

Another gas attack here.

IranNewsNow describes a dramatic scene:

Things get intense approximately half-way through when a struggle ensues between people wanting to beat up a captured Basiji, and greens chanting “Leave him alone!”, “Velesh kon! Velesh kon!” meaning “Let him go!”. These chants are proof that although anger runs high against the regime, the peoples movement is largely peaceful and seeks non-violence.

Such a display of decency harks back to this iconic image from June.

Reuters:

An Iranian opposition website said police forces refused orders to shoot at pro-reform protesters during clashes on Sunday in central Tehran, where it reported earlier four demonstraters had been killed. "Police forces are refusing their commanders' orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran … some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," the Jaras website said.

In an unprecedented fashion, protesters have been hitting back at the security forces as well as the Baseej militia. Footage of the flaming car can be viewed here. Another clip of a flipped police vehicle here. And the AP captured a striking image of a policeman being carried away from a brutal beating; see it here.