Jun 15, 2009 2:03 pm US/Central
Twitter Heats Up As Unrest Boils Over In Iran
Graphic Descriptions Of Riots Surface In Tweets
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Twitter has been heating up with accounts of the unrest in Iran, including reports from the frontlines in Tehran.
One Twitter user,
PersianKiwi, has been sending out updates from Iran throughout the day, and has amassed more than 10,000 followers.
The tweets by PersianKiwi provide beat-by-beat updates of demonstrations in Tehran's Tajreesh Square, and have encouraged people to hack Iranian government Web sites. PersianKiwi has also posted links to graphic images of killings in the Iranian capital.
Over the weekend, many Iranians were using Twitter to voice their views about the elections with Internet and mobile texting down.
But on Sunday, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites were shut down, along with text messaging, as the Iranian government increased its Internet filtering in an apparent attempt to undercut liberal voices.
The restrictions were likely intended to prevent supporters of challenging candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi from organizing large-scale protests stemming from allegations of vote fraud in the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But the crackdown hasn't stopped other Twitter users from around the world from sending out posts about the unrest.
Some posts warned of the risks of demonstrating in the streets: "Bullets can easily penetrate cars or ricochet under or off of them. They are not safe to stay around."
Others made political statements, such as "The whole world is watching. Rise up for a fair election process, Iran," or linked to images of the demonstrations and riots.
While more frivolous topics often dominate the Twitter world, the Iran election and related keywords, such as "Functioning Election" and "Tehran" took four of the 10 top spots among most discussed topics Monday afternoon. The site was recording hundreds of posts on the subject per minute.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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