Stark Images, Uploaded to the World: Via NYTimes.com .

Via the Internet, the world has received unprecedented looks at the continuing unrest in Iran. As foreign journalists are forced to leave Tehran and others are essentially confined to their hotel rooms, news organizations are looking more and more to the Iranians themselves to provide the news, or at least the pictures.

Dozens of videos of the sometimes violent protests by opponents of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have appeared on YouTube and other sites in the days following last Friday’s presidential election, provided by Iranians eager to circumvent the shroud of censorship their government was trying to place over the unfolding events. On Wednesday, amateur videos of an opposition rally were one of the primary sources of television pictures from Tehran. Another video showed a protest inside a Tehran train station.

YouTube said it had relaxed its usual restrictions on violent videos to allow the images from Iran to reach the rest of the world.

“In general, we do not allow graphic or gratuitous violence on YouTube,” the company said in a statement. “However, we make exceptions for videos that have educational, documentary, or scientific value. The limitations being placed on mainstream media reporting from within Iran make it even more important that citizens in Iran be able to use YouTube to capture their experiences for the world to see.” But the Iranian government continued to try to restrict Web communications. On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that protesters trying to stoke tensions using Internet sites like Twitter would be subject to retribution.

“We warn those who propagate riots and spread rumors that our legal action against them will cost them dearly,” a statement from the military force said.

At the same time, the opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi was using his public profile page on Facebook to organize protests scheduled for Thursday.

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