This is gutwrenching, heartbreaking stuff.
Partial transcript provided by the ABC article "Eyewitness: Massacre in Baharestan Square":
CNN said another source inside Tehran had described people being "shot like animals".
The witness went on: "In the previous days they are killing students with axes, they put the axe through the heart of young men, and it's so devastating I don't know how to describe it.
"This is horrific, this is genocide, this is a massacre, this is Hitler. And you people should stop it. It's time to act."
More gruesome details follow... if this is true this is sickening...
Please note this is all unconfirmed. Some commentors are expressing doubt of the authenticity of the photograph in the article.
I will warn you, this made me queasy. If it is true it's absolutely... horrendous, tragic... such words fall short. Words are tough to come by so I'll let the quote / sources handle what I'm incapable of:
...live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures but brief glimpses of the unimaginable horror that took place today. Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by "black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the barely controllably distraught Tehran caller to CNN described first hand, hundreds of the regime's Basij thugs poured out of an adjoining mosque and commenced a massacre with axes, clubs, guns and gas.
...
This is the Iranian regime, wading into its own unarmed people and axing them to death, bludgeoning women (seen as the greatest threat to the regime) and throwing them to their deaths from pedestrian bridges.
The following link contains very, very graphic details / photos:
Unimaginable horror in Tehran @ threatswatch.org
I won't to write more but to be honest I can't find words right now. I can't believe this has happened.
In the reddit thread that brought this to my attention, there's a number of people doubting the authenticity of the reports because they are from unconfirmed sources. I can only say that I hope, wish, pray they are not authentic. Sadly, tragically, I fear this is just the beginning of the worst to come out of Iran.
My heart just goes out to the people of Iran.
Some relevant links:
I will not be able to keep this post updated. If somebody who has more time wants to create a new thread to follow this, please do so and comment with the link, and I'll link it as soon as I know.
update: this comment by gsadamb is worth reading:
I've gotten into quite a bit of contact with people who are generally reliable sources. The bad news is that there HAS been an even greater communications crackdown lately. But from all accounts I've received, the accounts of the axing of people in the streets is either fabricated or very much blown out of proportion in an attempt to help quell the populace.
I made a few disclaimer-like edits. I won't be updating further.