firstly people said their vote had been robbed from them and they wanted reform. so that's their main point of contention. they want economic reform, social reform, political reform in iran. >> although you're in tehran, you watch the region. how does this compare with what's happening in the middle east and northern africa, which we have been watching? >> reporter: in terms of a popular uprising, it's similar. people have the same basic demands. but in terms of the clash with the security force, it's very different. the security here are out in a huge number crushing any sort of dissent. in egypt we even vsaw the army with the people. that's not happening here by any measure whatsoever. there is a major crashdown, this has been going on for the last year and a half and it's going on today. security forces fired tear gas on people, they beat protestors back and it became a very ugly scene, especially as night fell here. >> we watch what happened in