Neda Lives

Neda has become the icon for the drive for freedom in Iran. Neda was a 27 year old woman shot to death on June 20 during the riots in Tehran. Her death was filmed and circulated across the Internet. Now, her name is the rallying cry for the opposition to Iran's brutal government.

Thousands of Iranians were gathered around Neda's gravesite changing "Neda Lives!" As the memorial ceremony grew, Iranian police fired tear gas and beat a number of the protesters in order to disperse them.

This new wave of unrest exhibits the opposition's continued drive for freedom, regardless of the crackdown, using the government's intolerance of their movement as kindling for more eruptions of protests. The episode at Neda's gravesite comes less than a week before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is inaugurated.

Demonstrations drawing thousands later spread to other parts of Tehran. As in the last string of protests, police fired tear gas, shots in the air and paintballs at the hundreds of protesters.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Police beat mourners in new wave of unrest in Iran - Associated Press/Yahoo News, Nasser Karimi