The men and women danced and cheered in the streets and after power was cut around the embassy, they used  their cell phones to complement the moonlight in a stunning display of unity.

On Tuesday however, Honduran security forces disassembled the thousands of pro-Manuel Zelaya supporters. Police chased and fired tear gas at the protesters, some of whom responded by throwing stones at the armed forces. No arrests of injuries have yet been reported, however there are thought to be several.

Zelaya returned to the Honduran capital on Monday, a claim which the military-backed coup government had previously denied.

The ousted president said he believes the police are preparing for an attack on the embassy, which would be a grave violation of international law.

“The embassy is surrounded by police and the military … I foresee bigger acts of aggression and violence, that they could be capable of even invading the Brazilian embassy,” Al-Jazeera reports he told Venezuelan Telesur network.

Brazil’s Foreign ministry has accused the de facto government of severing power and water lines that lead into the embassy.

Kicked Out

Zelaya was ousted by a military-backed coup on June 28, driven out of his home in his pajamas in the middle of the night. The coup was due largely in part to his attempts at a constitutional referendum that, potentially, would have allowed him to run for another term.

He was sent in to exile and told not to return.

The de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, previously stated he was open to talks with foreign nations; however he recently stated he would not negotiate and demanded the transfer of Zelaya to his government so the ousted president could stand trial on corruption and constitutional violation charges.

It’s a revolution against an Islamic Republic that puts its own needs and wants in front of the people that it governs, or so the Ph.D student put it.

Saturday’s protests in Iran were full of violence. People were shot, beaten and tear gassed in the streets. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the public in his speech Friday that more demonstrations were prohibited. He said that if the people continued to revolt, Mousavi and the opposition would be responsible for what happened to them.

He also said these protests won’t force the ruling regime into a corner. He said, basically, these outbursts are useless.

The people are however challenging the very foundation of not only the supreme leadership, but the Islamic Republic as well.

Protests turn deadly

Some sources say a bomb went off outside a mosque and killed three or four people. Other say people were being shot dead in the streets. Some claim military tanks were deployed. Reports of helicopters landing at universities are coming through via Iranian twitter accounts. More twitter accounts claim Basiji are ntering homes and attacking civilians.

CNN reports hospital officials say 19 died today during the demonstrations. The death toll could be as high as 150.

According to this video, one woman was shot and killed by Basiji during the protests.

WARNING: THE VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.

In terms of severity and risk, the situation may be getting out of hand. The woman killed is now being used as a rallying point for Iranians, an example of horrid government brutality. Her name was Neda, which, so fittingly, means “voice” in Farsi.

If Iran were to give in and approve a re-election, it could start a dangerous trend across the Middle-East. As Obama said, “the world is watching. An Islamic Republic that gives in to the demands of the people could set a precedent for the citizens of other Islamic countries.

Countries that are successfully oppressing their people. These protests could mean widespread unrest throughout the Middle-East.

Thoughts of an Iranian student

But what does all this mean for Iran? What are these people fighting for? When will these protests end? How far will the supreme leader go to ensure his republic maintains some degree of control?

Yesterday I spoke to an Iranian exchange student, Mahdi Takaffoli, about the protests, the election results and the behind-the-scenes power struggle between Ayatollah Khamenei and Assembly of Experts Chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president.

Takaffoli could not comment on the specifics of some issues since his media access is like ours. Restricted. Living outside of Iran during a period of extreme internal turmoil summons feelings of guilt within him. He said on one hand he’s glad he’s not there. His life, in Canada, is not in danger.

“But then I thought about it and I think I would like to be in Iran so I can show I have the courage to speak out against Khamenei,” he says.

Even though he can’t be in Tehran, Takaffoli is showing his support. He attended a protest in Toronto last week, which drew a crowd of more than 1,000. He and I also attended a candlelight vigil on Friday night for those who died during the protests in Iran. He also plans to attend a rally in Toronto on Sunday.

Takaffoli even took a five-hour bus ride to Ottawa to vote at Canada’s only polling station. He voted for Mousavi, as did 85 per cent of the nearly 3,000 Iranian-Canadians who made the trip to the nation’s capital, he says.

After the interview Takaffoli expressed some regret over the harsh words he spoke against Khamenei. Not because he believed them to be untrue, but because his family still lives in Iran. “I am not afraid though,” he says.

Takaffoli spoke of his devotion to Iran and his allegiance to the reformist party and Mousavi. He admitted that when the election began he did not know much about Mousavi, but after watching the debates and reading about his policies, he decided Mousavi, as an artist, would be a good stepping stone to reform Iranian politics and help promote freedom of expression.

He says there’s been a reformist movement brewing for a while, especially among the educated youth. He’s happy that this movement now has a leader, though he did acknowledge that while Mousavi may not be everyone’s ideal candidate, he is a figure people can rally behind to look for real change. He criticized Ahmadinejad for acting like he works for the people.

He believed, along with his friends in Iran, that an election was the best way to have their oppressed voices heard. Now that may have been taken away from them, too.

Now, with a tainted, corrupt democracy, he doesn’t know what the future of his country will bring.

Takaffoli said there’s no way he could believe Ahmadinejad won so much of the public’s vote when so many citizens wanted reform.

He doesn’t believe in toppling the entire Islamic Republic though. He wants to achieve reform through the system because, as he put it, overthrowing the entire regime would result in the deaths of too many Iranians. Throughout our talk he made it clear he was against violent revolution of any kind, no matter what it could achieve.

Takaffoli doesn’t know what these protests will bring, but he is extremely proud and hopeful that his countrymen and women will force the republic to reform.

But that won’t happen if Khamenei has his way.

Neither side is exactly peaceful. A recent attack, blamed on the government by the Tamil Tigers and the Tamil Tigers by the government, fired artillery shells that have killed 300, including more than 100 children, and injured nearly 1,000.

The government can be violent and the Tamil Tigers have been branded a terrorist organization in the U.S., Canada, India and 29 other countries. They’ve use child soldiers and suicide bombs. But their government kills their supporters too, so the real tragedy here is not the deaths of the Tamil Eelam fighters or soldiers, but of the civilians caught in the crossfire.

And while I’m not Tamil, I understand and recognize the hurt the innocent are going through, though I could never truly imagine or begin to comprehend the veracity of it. Hell, I can’t even describe it using language.

But here’s where it gets tricky. Some of you may have heard that a 2,000-strong five hour Tamil protest blocked off the Gardiner Expressway until midnight last night, the city of Toronto’s major highway which sees between 200,000 and 300,000 cars daily. It’s been called an artery at times as it transports citizens from the beating heart of the city out to the western suburbs, which are inhabited by more than 1,000,000 residents.

Imagine driving along a major highway when a Tamil mother and child suddenly pop up beside your car. Yes, they brought their children too. And yes, as you can see above, they actually walked up the ramp onto the highway. How? I have no clue.

At its height, the protest blocked off traffic in either direction for a few miles. It could have been quite dangerous if there had been a medical emergency, miraculously though, no ambulances reported to have been caught in the jam. No babies were delivered in taxis. Just some pissed off residents and a few missed flights (a friend of mine missed his).

Some might be saying, so what? How dare you compare a five hour inconvenience to the deaths of innocent Sri Lankans?

Well, I’m not doing that. But I am struggling to understand how in the world blocking off traffic and angering every Torontonian could possibly help the cause? Only those who hate Torontonians would laugh at us, and in Canada, there are a lot of those. But who cares about those haters, that’s beside the point.

Up to now, Tamil protests in Toronto have been pretty peaceful and sane. They walk down large streets in large numbers, disrupting traffic a bit in the downtown core but only for a little while. No big deal.

And I understand that the goal of this protest was to garner media attention so that the demands made would be heard by as many as possible. That’s fine.

But now everyone is angry at you. Torontonians are mad, many (as I read in the comments section on the CBC website) believe that the Tamils should respect Canadian society and protest in a way that doesn’t disrupt it. Or at least protest more at Parliament Hill, not downtown Toronto. Remember, the Prime Minister, that guy who runs our country (poorly) lives in Ottawa not Toronto.

The point of protesting is to get people to rally behind you and support you, not be angry with you.

And please, the next time you want to block off a highway or walk onto the court during a basketball game or something, don’t bring your kids. Someone could easily have gotten hit by a car last night, and the last thing anyone wants is to harm an innocent child.

I support the cause; the civil war should end or at least stop long enough to get the civilians out of there. Bring them to Canada, we’d love to take them. But seriously, angering Torontonians creates hate, and Torontonians are like the New Yorkers of Canada. Just waiting for something new to be pissed at.

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Anyone else see that? Anyone capture it on video/screen grab?

Security also threw out a protester in a pink dress after someone ripped a sign out of her hands.

McCain rolled well with the punches: “ignore the static and background noise.”

I dunno, folks. There’s a time and a place for this, and there are some legitimate gripes to hear heard. But let the man speak.