A teen girl was murdered on the street in Iran, sparking another wave of protests and violence.
The fresh-faced teenage girl killed by what appears to be a single sniper shot on the streets of Tehran Saturday is now a potent symbol for Iran's pro-democracy protesters.
Her shocking and quick death in the arms of her howling father was captured on closeup video, posted to Facebook and came to life on computer screens across the globe...
"They killed Neda, but not her voice," read another. "Neda is everyone's sister, everyone's daughter, everyone's voice for freedom," said a third.
The graphic video was originally posted to Facebook by an Iranian expatriate in Holland who said it was sent to him by a friend in Tehran, a doctor who tried to save the girl.
He identified her as Neda Soltani, a 16-year-old philosophy student.
A Facebook group created to mourn her calls her "The Angel of Iran."
In Tehran on Sunday, the streets were quiet for the first time in a week, but the city was bracing for more unrest today when thousands are expected to mourn the girl's death...
As the Neda video ignited fury and tears, several new Twitter accounts were opened dedicated solely to insisting the video was fake. The posters were roundly shouted down as tools of the Iranian regime.
One of the many other videos of the Tehran protests uploaded to YouTube captured the girl in the last moments of her life, standing on a curb with her silver-haired father, watching the protesters go by.
In a country where martyrdom is a matter of great import and mourning marches often mix with protests, the girl's very public death has the potential to be a galvanizing event.
The situation in Iran is only growing more and more volitile every day. Of course U.S. politicians are using the situation to score political points against Obama, who urges peaceful protest, restraint and non-interferance from the U.S. Others of course, would love nothing better than to use this situation as an excuse to march into Tehran guns blazing.
The Iranian government is having its reckoning. The internet and social media is keeping the opposition connected and informed, and the Iranian propaganda machine is knocked on its heels from the sheer volume of voices from all over the world.
Maybe this is the watershed moment that will make the Iranian regime realize that a new election must be held.
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