Iran is happening - 'Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it's Seyyed Ali's turn'

The Arab uprisings reached Iran on Monday. Thousands of protesters marched through central Tehran -- down Enghelab and Azadi streets, converging toward Azadi Square -- in the largest demonstrations the capital had seen since the crushed protests of 2009. Security forces answered with tear gas, pepper spray, batons, and, witnesses said, live rounds.

The marches had been called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi as a show of solidarity with Egypt and Tunisia. The solidarity cut both ways: demonstrators chanted "Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it's Seyyed Ali's turn" -- a direct threat to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some burned pictures of Khamenei and of the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

Neither opposition leader made it to the streets. Karroubi remained under house arrest; security forces prevented Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, from leaving their home, according to the pro-reform site Kaleme. As many as 10,000 security personnel were reported deployed across the capital, and dozens of arrests were reported in Tehran and in Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, and Kermanshah. At least one protester was reported killed.

The government blackout was total -- state television carried no mention of the demonstrations, replaying instead footage from Friday's anniversary marches for the Islamic revolution. But the rooftop chants of "Allahu Akbar" and "Death to the dictator," revived from 2009, carried across the city after dark, along with footage uploaded to YouTube and Facebook, where the marches had been organized under the banner of "25 Bahman" -- the day's date on the Iranian calendar.

Abroad, the response was swift. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the "courage" of the protesters and pressed Tehran to follow Egypt's example and open its political system. Amnesty International condemned the crackdown, with its Middle East deputy director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui noting that Iranians had a right to gather peacefully in support of the people of Egypt and Tunisia.

Monday's marches were billed as a one-day event. Whether they would continue -- and what the regime would do if they did -- was the question the night left hanging.