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Protest marches involving what several Western media are calling “thousands” of people turned ugly in Iran Sunday 27 December, as at least four people were killed when police opened fire. One of them was reportedly the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, but Al Jazeera notes that the report cannot be independently verified, as foreign media are banned from covering street protests. The government told media that police were not carrying weapons. The marches took place in Teheran, but there appear to also have been protests in Isfahan and Najafabad. Government supporters criticized the protesters for taking political action on Ashoura, a religious event marked by Shia Muslims that commemorates the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, BBC, Jerusalem Post