Today in Iran they remembered Neda, the young woman whose shooting by a rooftop sniper made her a symbol of the opposition to Iran's ruling theocracy, and a martyr to the cause.Today, July 30th, it is 40 days, since she was gunned down in the streets of Tehran during post election demonstrations-- an important interval in terms of Iranian mourning customs. Family, friends, and reformers asked for governmental permission to mourn at the graveside. It was denied.Word went out, by word of mouth and on the internet, that mourners were to gather at Beheshteh Zahra cemetery in Tehran with Neda's family at the grave today. Thousands did just that in a breathtaking show of solidarity . In spite of attempts to stifle communication with the outside world, the internet is full of words and images from Iran today, and of demonstrations in the name of Neda
You can read the excellent, English language reports from people on the scene at the Tehran Bureau website. There is a good slide show of today's events posted online by an Iranian blogger. One of my favorite American political bloggers has done an excellent post which gives the blow by blow of today's action. Another good source of information is the New York Times blog The Lede, which has been filing reports from Iran all day long. Videos are being uploaded to YouTube by the minute it seems, The one below was filed today. Have a look. Neda may be gone, but she is far from forgotten.
photo source:http://twitpic.com/c5ai9
