Violence is spreading in Iran as protestors take to the streets following the government’s announcement that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated reform candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi by a 2-1 margin. Moussavi and his backers have accused the government of rigging the election results.
Helmeted policemen armed with clubs have confiscated cameras, and the government has blocked SMS messaging and Internet, but has not been able to stop reports by Twitter, a social messaging system. Several foreign news agencies said their reporters were beaten by police. ABC News photographed a street demonstration with a cellular phone after its cameras were confiscated.
Wounded student recovers from police beating 
Saturday night, military forces raided
Supporters of Moussavi are planning to take to the streets Monday afternoon despite a government refusal to allow them to hold a nationwide march.
CNN reported that a half a dozen policemen clubbed one young protestor with metal rods and clubs. “Seconds earlier, the man had dared to stand up to the baton-wielding men because they had shoved a 14-year-old girl. For his chivalry he got one of the most savage beatings I have ever seen at the hands of four Iranian riot policemen and members of the Baseej, Iran's plainclothed volunteer militia,” a CNN reporter stated.
Pictures and videos transmitted on Twitter show the riot police on motorcycles charging into a crowd, swinging their clubs indiscriminately. In one incident in Tehran, protestors surrounded the police and beat them.
BBC said the government had jammed its signals, and Dutch broadcaster Nederland 2 said its journalist and cameraman were arrested and ordered to leave the country. The news agency said the arrests came as the crew was filing in front of Moussavi's headquarters. "They were pushed against a wall and their tapes were seized. Their filming permits were withdrawn and they have to leave the country immediately," according to Nederland 2.
Students turned over cars in protest 
The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel said its office had been shut down. A Toronto Globe & Mail correspondent reported. “[A] heavy-set man in a camouflage uniform grabbed me, shouting in Farsi, and pushed me into a throng of riot police. They shouted while I waved my hand and said ‘Canadian’ to no effect. Before I knew what was happening, I was whisked away on a motorcycle to the Interior Ministry headquarters, and taken to a large basement room.
“Inside a concrete room to my left, I could see more than 50 others being made to stand in uncomfortable positions – on their toes with their hands pressed behind their heads. Some were covered in blood, and police with batons patrolled the rows, tapping some detainees on the shoulders with their sticks. There was no screaming, just the sound of boots pacing on the concrete floor.
“For a few terrifying hours Sunday, I was mistaken for an anti-government protester, giving me a glimpse into how the hundreds arrested over the weekend are being treated by authorities in a system where dissidents are known to ‘disappear’ and not be seen again for months.”
Reports on Twitter claimed that the riot police attacked women and children brutally. One recent report stated “news of riots in 12 cities."
Saturday night military force raided