The entire Iranian post election crisis had been recorded extensively via social networking sites, the progression of the events following the election results can fully be understood by using only social networking sites, due to the vast amount of information available, from hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iranians. This timeline utilizes information from Twitter, Flicker and Wikipedia.
June 12: The Election
From Wikipedia: Iranian Presidential Election, 2009
The election had seen huge candidate rallies in Iranian cities, and turnout was very high with over 80 percent of the electorate reportedly voting. If no candidate had received a majority of support, a run-off election would have been held on 19 June 2009. At the closing of election polls, both leading candidates, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, claimed victory, with both candidates telling the press that their sources have them at 58–60% of the total vote. Early reports had claimed a turnout of 32 million votes cast. Mousavi warned the Iranian people of possible vote fraud.
Picture Credit; kaka. 0098
June 13-14: The protests begin
From Wikipedia: 2009 Iranian election protests, June 13
In what was dubbed the worst civil unrest in Iran in over a decade, clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results from early Saturday morning onward. Protests were initially mostly peaceful but became increasingly violent. Demonstrators chanted phrases such as “Down with the dictator”, “Death to the dictator”, and “Give us our votes back”. Mousavi urged for calm and asked that his supporters refrain from acts of violence
From Twitter, June 13-14.
From Flickr: Iran Protests, June 13-14
Picture Credit; kaka. 0098
From Wikipedia: June 15 to June 18
Candle-bearing protesters massed in central Tehran on Thursday near Toopkhaneh square, following a call by Mousavi to commemorate those who were killed on Monday’s protests. Varying reports placed the crowd size between “tens of thousands” and “more than 100,000.” A second, simultaneous protest with several hundred participants took place near the UN headquarters, while a counter rally was held by hard line students protesting former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s role in the pro-Mousavi protests.
From Flickr: Iran Election, June 15-18
Picture Credit; alanoftulsa
From Wikipedia: June 20 and Neda Soltani
State-run television reported that at least 10 were killed and 100 injured on Saturday, as thousands of protesters swept into the streets of Tehran, in open defiance of warnings issued Friday by Iran’s Supreme Leader and Security Council. A young Iranian woman, identified as Neda Soltani, was shot by the Basij and died in front of recording cameras on Kargar Avenue in Tehran. Highly graphic amateur videos of the killing rapidly spread virally across the internet to many websites, including Facebook and YouTube.
From Twitter: June 19, June 20, June 21
From Flickr: Iran Election, June 19-21
Picture Credit; Armin Ghasemi
The social networking media provided instant information to people around the world, created sympathy for the demonstrators and unofficially created funding lines for the Mousavi demonstrators. Even though the Iranian Government attempted to clamp down on communications such as; the internet and cell phone services, the content emanating from the streets of Iran still kept on coming in droves and spreading virally to the furthest corners of the globe. Social media will ultimately decide the fate of the Iran post election crisis.
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