AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC CAN'T BE BOTH UNREPUBLICAN AND UNISLAMIC:

Deaths and fury in Iran protests: Police kill 10 on Islamic holiday, opposition says (Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi, December 28, 2009, NY Times)

Iranian police opened fire on crowds of protesters yesterday, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and opposition websites said, and setting off a day of chaotic street battles that seemed poised to deepen the country’s civil unrest.

The nationwide protests during the holiday commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, Shi’ite Islam’s holiest martyr, were the bloodiest and among the largest since the uprisings that followed Iran’s disputed presidential election in June, witnesses said. Hundreds of people were reported wounded in cities across the country, and Tehran police said they had made 300 arrests.

The authorities’ decision to use deadly force on the Ashura holiday infuriated many Iranians, and some said the violence appeared to galvanize more traditional religious people who had not been part of the protests until then. Historically, Iranian rulers have honored Ashura’s prohibition of violence, even during wartime.