Change of tactics in Iran?

Washington Times:

Iran's pro-democracy movement is changing strategy and will use smaller and more dispersed demonstrations to try to protect protesters from security forces, who dissidents now say have killed nearly 250 people in the past 10 days.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a prominent Iranian filmmaker who is serving as a spokesman in the West for opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, told The Washington Times that the opposition movement is also asking Iranians all over the world to light candles in silent protest Friday to commemorate Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman killed by security forces Saturday.

Her slaying, captured on video and sent around the world via the Internet, has become a symbol of the protest movement and of the Iranian government's crackdown on those disputing the purported landslide victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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The Iranian government has said that 17 people have died so far during the postelection protests; Mr. Makhmalbaf said the toll was 249.

As he spoke, the crackdown intensified, and eyewitnesses reported seeing snipers shooting protesters gathered around Baharestan Square near the Iranian parliament.

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An Iranian journalist who covers the parliament and asked to be identified only as Reza told The Times by telephone that more than 500 officers of the elite Revolutionary Guards and other high-ranking security officials in plainclothes surrounded the building. Security there has doubled, Reza said, and even some members of parliament were stopped and questioned by security guards before entering the building.

"Mousavi is trying to avoid people being killed and to reduce the costs for people in the streets," Mr. Makhmalbaf said. "He is asking for a dispersed demonstration in many different areas, rather than gathering in one place, where people will be attacked. Also he is moving toward calling for a strike rather than asking people to put themselves in danger in a street fight."

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The dispersal tactic will put more pressure on the regime. It makes it more difficult to concentrate its forces against the opposition. It means the government will have to use even more police and vigilantes to suppress the opposition.

CNN reports that demonstrations scheduled for today have been postponed for at least a week. Reuters reports that Mousavi has said he will not drop his opposition to Ahmadinejad's "election."