From Roger Cohen in the NY Times (thanks to JJackson):

Smoke from tear gas swirled. Hurled bricks sent phalanxes of police, some with automatic rifles, into retreat to the accompaniment of cheers. Early afternoon rumors that the rally for Moussavi had been canceled yielded to the reality of violent confrontation.

I don’t know where this uprising is leading. I do know some police units are wavering. That commander talking about his family was not alone. There were other policemen complaining about the unruly Basijis. Some security forces just stood and watched. “All together, all together, don’t be scared,” the crowd shouted.

I also know that Iran’s women stand in the vanguard. For days now, I’ve seen them urging less courageous men on. I’ve seen them get beaten and return to the fray. “Why are you sitting there?” one shouted at a couple of men perched on the sidewalk on Saturday. “Get up! Get up!”

Another green-eyed woman, Mahin, aged 52, staggered into an alley clutching her face and in tears. Then, against the urging of those around her, she limped back into the crowd moving west toward Freedom Square. Cries of “Death to the dictator!” and “We want liberty!” accompanied her.

There were people of all ages. I saw an old man on crutches, middle-aged office workers and bands of teenagers. Unlike the student revolts of 2003 and 1999, this movement is broad.

“Can’t the United Nations help us?” one woman asked me. I said I doubted that very much. “So,” she said, “we are on our own.”

This has ceased being about Mousavi alone: it is now clearly a challenge to the Supreme Leader Khamenei and the entire establishment.

President George W. Bush said, on more than one occasion, that “freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman in this world.” He was mocked for it, including by those who have lately opted for pragmatism and realpolitik, in dealing narrowly with the nuclear issue, and the powers-that-be — however objectionable — in Iran.

A chorus of voices are shouting “God is great” across Iranian rooftops tonight, as they did last night, and as they may do for many nights to come. Those of us who are Christians or Jews may have many reasons to believe that Islam provides a seriously flawed way of relating to the one true God. Yet, there is one true God and shepherd, and may He hear the prayers of all of His sheep tonight and always.

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