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Last update - 05:25 19/09/2009
Reformist leaders attacked as thousands march in fresh Iran protests
By The Associated Press and Reuters
Tags: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 
 

Hard-liners attacked senior pro-reform leaders in the streets as tens of thousands marched in competing mass demonstrations by the opposition and government supporters.

Opposition protesters, "chanting death to the dictator," hurled stones and bricks in clashes with security forces firing tear gas.

The opposition held its first major street protests since mid-July, with marchers decked out in green - the reform movement's color - waving V-for-victory signs on major boulevards in the capital.
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In some cases on several blocks away, larger crowds marched in government-sponsored rallies marking an annual anti-Israel commemoration,
waving pictures of Iran's supreme leader and president and placards denouncing the Jewish state.

The commemoration, known as Quds Day, is a major political occasion for the government - a day for it to show its anti-Israeli credentials and its support for the Palestinians. Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem. During a speech for the rallies, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against Israel and the West, questioning whether the Holocaust occurred and calling it a pretext for occupying Arab land.

But the opposition was determined to turn the day into a show of its survival and continued strength despite a fierce three-month-old crackdown against it since the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Top opposition leaders joined the protests, in direct defiance of commands by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who barred anti-government demonstrations on Quds Day. That could provoke an escalation in the crackdown: hard-line clerics have been demanding the past week that any leader backing the protests should be arrested.

Several tens of thousands joined the opposition marches, witnesses said ? far smaller than the masses that turned out in the Quds Day rallies, which were helped by government organizing. Police and security forces, along with pro-government Basij militiamen, fanned out along main squares and avenues and in many cases tried to keep nearby opposition protesters away from the Quds Day rallies to prevent clashes, witnesses said.

Opposition supporters poured onto main boulevards and squares, wearing green T-shirts and wristbands and waving green banners and balloons. They waved pictures of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and denounced Ahmadinejad, chanting death to the dictator.

Others chanted, "Not Gaza, not Lebanon - our life is for Iran" - a slogan directly challenging the government's support for anti-Israeli Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla. Some shouted for Ahmadinejad's government to resign. Some women marched with their children in tow.

But at one of the several opposition rallies around the city, a group of hard-liners pushed through the crowd and attacked former President Mohamad Khatami, a cleric who is one of the most prominent pro-reform figures, according to a reformist Web site. The report cited witnesses as saying the opposition activists rescued Khatami and quickly repelled the assailants.

Opposition Web sites reported that Khatami fell to the ground, but witnesses said he was only jostled and remained standing.

Hard-liners also tried to attack the main opposition leader, Mousavi, when he joined another march elsewhere in the city, a witness said. Supporters rushed Mousavi into his car when the hard-liners approached, and the vehicle sped away as his supporters pushed the hard-liners back, the witness said. He and other witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation.

Another pro-reform leader, Mahdi Karroubi, who also ran in the presidential election, also joined protests elsewhere in the city.

In one of the main Tehran squares, Haft-e Tir, security forces weilding batons and firing tear gas tried to break up one of the opposition marched, and were met with protesters throwing stones and bricks, witnesses said. Several policemen were seen being taken away with light injuries. At least 10 protesters were seized by plainclothes security agents in marches around the city, witnesses said.

The pro-government Quds Day rallies were held in cities around the country, and the opposition staged competing rallies in the southern and central cities of Shiraz and Isfahan, witnesses said. In Shiraz, police rushed the protesters with batons, scuffling with them, witnesses said.

The opposition claims that Ahmadinejad won the June election by fraud and that Mousavi is the rightful victor. Hundreds of thousands marched in support of Mousavi in the weeks after the vote, until police, Basij and the elite Revolutionary Guard crushed the protests, arresting hundreds. The opposition says 72 people were killed in the crackdown, thought the government puts the number at 36. The last significant protest was on July 17.

In sheer numbers, the opposition turnout was far smaller than the mass pro-government Quds Day marches - not surprising given the state's freedom to organize the gathering.

Customarily on Quds Day, Iranians gather for pro-Palestinian rallies in various parts of the city, marching through the streets and later converging for the prayer ceremony. The ceremony was established in 1979 by the leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Just hundreds of meters away from opposition protesters on the main Keshavarz Boulevard, thousands of Ahmadinejad supporters marched carrying huge photographs of the president and Supreme Leader Khamenei. Some in the government-sponsored rally chanted: "Death to those who oppose the supreme leader!"

At the climax of the occasion, Ahmadinejad addressed worshippers before Friday prayers at the Tehran University campus, reiterating his denial of the Holocaust, which has drawn international condemnation since 2005.

"The pretext [Holocaust] for the creation of the Zionist regime [Israel] is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told the worshippers. "Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty."


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      1.   Na Gaze, Na Lobnan, Jaanam Fadaaye Iran 11:01  |  Persian Kitty 18/09/09
      2.   Not a very smart idea from the opposition to use Quds day.... 11:32  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/09/09
      3.   Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas, Syria are one and the same hydra 11:53  |  Chaim Ben Kahan 18/09/09
      4.   Where would Israel be without Ahmadinejad...??? 11:56  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/09/09
      5.   HE IS RIGHT. 12:05  |  Gerry 18/09/09
      6.   ahmadinejad 12:15  |  zoe 18/09/09
      7.   let`s make an annual, international "Teheran Day" - 12:53  |  ivo 18/09/09
      8.   To Swiss snd Gerry 13:04  |  Owen 18/09/09
      9.   # 5 Gerry from UK told the truth 13:05  |  Faulu 18/09/09
      10.   #1 Persian Kitty 13:06  |  H 18/09/09
      11.   you`re so wrong, Dino, somebody should scream it - 13:09  |  ivo 18/09/09
      12.   gery 13:09  |  dave 18/09/09
      13.   Iran`s Islamist-Jihadist Fanatics 13:20  |  Brod 18/09/09
      14.   The classic alpha-male syndrome 13:22  |  allang 18/09/09
      15.   to Dave in Istanbul 13:58  |  gerry 18/09/09
      16.   TO BROD NO 13. 14:02  |  DANNY 18/09/09
      17.   observation 14:06  |  potobac 18/09/09
      18.   ISRAEL IS THE REASON 15:28  |  JOE 18/09/09
      19.   Holocaust is mythical but story of Mohammed flying to J`lem... 15:39  |  McQueen 18/09/09
      20.   # 11 By the way, ivo, Israels defense minister said yesterday.... 15:41  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/09/09
      21.   Ahmadinejad: Confronting Israel is a religious duty 15:47  |  Farsi speaker 18/09/09
      22.   #4, To Swiss Dino... 15:55  |  Silvienne 18/09/09
      23.   To Owen from Tel Aviv... 15:58  |  Silvienne 18/09/09
      24.   I don`t think Iran poses an existential threat either - 16:51  |  ivo 18/09/09
      25.   To be disregarded - 18:40  |  17 18/09/09
      26.   Ahmadinejad rethoric is the sign of a dangerous zealot 18:41  |  Joe 18/09/09
      27.   Iran not isolated by anti-Semitic hatred 19:27  |  Paul Freedman 18/09/09
      28.   # 24 ivo, come on, that comparison is a bit strange..... 19:34  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/09/09
      29.   Iran like China and Russia...living with propaganda and hate 19:41  |  Jose Pedro 18/09/09
      30.   Defending Israel is a national duty 20:09  |  Baruch Gold 18/09/09
      31.   This fool has something coming for him 20:20  |  Marco 18/09/09
      32.   to silviene, the World will do nothing when Israel wins another 20:21  |  Jose Pedro 18/09/09
      33.   to silviene, the World will do nothing when Israel wins another 20:22  |  Jose Pedro 18/09/09
      34.   Gerry #5 20:47  |  Snipes 18/09/09
      35.   To Joe # 18, in Jersey 20:49  |  Pepe 18/09/09
      36.   Eisenhower Predicted Garbage Like Amadinhejad 21:55  |  Murray of Montreal 18/09/09
      37.   "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, but our life is for Iran" I love it. 22:04  |  4:20 18/09/09
      38.   Sick of somethings 22:24  |  Cuneyt 18/09/09
      39.   Ahmadinejad: Confronting Israel is a national duty 22:26  |  Joshua 18/09/09
      40.   More hot air 22:28  |  American 18/09/09
      41.   Reformist leaders attacked as thousands march in fresh Iran prote 01:36  |  R C 19/09/09
      42.   there`s one more aspect to this, Dino - 02:13  |  ivo 19/09/09
      43.   Mossad 02:41  |  Natallie Durson 19/09/09
      44.   Swiss (Dino) # 25 _ It is Not About Your Style 02:58  |  Phinias Whoppy 19/09/09
      45.   Swiss (Dino) # 25 _ It is Not About Your Style 02:58  |  Phinias Whoppy 19/09/09
      46.   Islamic view of history 03:02  |  utagawa 19/09/09
      47.   Murray of Montreal - Au Contraire 03:05  |  Persian Kitty 19/09/09
      48.   The Jacboot is failing 03:44  |  Mark Lincoln 19/09/09
      49.   My highest regard and respect ... 04:47  |  Jasper 19/09/09
      50.   # 44 Phinias Whoppy, ha,ha,ha...... 06:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/09/09
      51.   # 42 ivo 07:08  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/09/09
      52.   jose pedro from minas gerais 13:06  |  vladimir 19/09/09
      53.   @47, persian kitty 13:15  |  vladimir 19/09/09
      54.   conference room in parlimentary building 22:54  |  Karoon 20/09/09
      55.   LIE 20:31  |  HAMAS 29/09/09
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