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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/middleeast/17tehran.html
Iran's Latest Protests Are Seen as the Toughest to Stop
[New York Times] Neil MacFarquhar - This time, analysts say, the government will have trouble bringing about a swift end to the demonstrations in the same way it had shut down previous eruptions. First, there is the sheer size of these demonstrations, with protests that are not limited to students, but cut across generations and economic classes. Second, there is a more pronounced leadership centered around the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has adopted an openly hard-edged attitude toward the government. Finally, there has been a critical shift in alliances. In the earlier uprisings, it was basically the reformists calling for change, opposed by both the religious hard-liners and the more pragmatic conservatives. This time, the pragmatists and the reformists have joined forces against the hard-liners, analysts said.