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Witnesses Report Fierce Clashes on Tehran Streets

Saturday 20 June 2009

by: Ali Akbar Dareini and Nasser Karimi  |  The Associated Press

Protesters in Tehran throw stones at security forces.

Protesters in Tehran throw stones at security forces as part of demonstrations following the contested presidential election. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)


    Tehran, Iran - Witnesses said police fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters who rallied in Tehran Saturday in open defiance of Iran's clerical government, sharply escalating the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    Eyewitnesses described fierce clashes near Revolution Square in central Tehran after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" Police responded with tear gas and water cannons, the witnesses said.

    English-language state TV said a blast at the Tehran shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had killed one persona and wounded two but the report could not be independently confirmed due to government restrictions on independent reporting.

    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders on Friday to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come.

    Eyewitnesses contacted by The Associated Press said thousands of police and plainclothes militia members filled the streets Saturday to prevent rallies. Fire trucks took up positions in Revolution Square and riot police surrounded Tehran University, the site of recent clashes between protesters and security forces, one witness said.

    Web sites run by supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he planned to post a message, but there was no statement by the time of the planned street protests at 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT, 1130 GMT). Some pro-reform Web sites called for people to take to the streets

    Tehran Province Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan said earlier in the day "police forces will crack down on any gathering or protest rally which are being planned by some people."

    English-language state TV said the country's highest national security body had ordered security forces to deal with the situation. It did not elaborate.

    The government statements were the most explicit warnings yet of force against protesters who gathered in massive rallies last week to demand the government cancel and rerun elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mousavi says he won but Ahmadinejad stole the election through widespread fraud.

    Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad Friday, saying the result reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests or face the consequences.

    The statement effectively closed the door to Mousavi's demand for a new election, ratcheting up the possibility of a bloody confrontation.

  

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Comments

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"With the oil revenues we

 Sat, 06/20/2009 - 15:57 — EDGEOFNOWHERE (not verified)
"With the oil revenues we could meet our entire budget and combat poverty, disease, and backwardness among our people. Another important consideration is that by the elimination of the power of the British company, we would also eliminate corruption and intrigue, by means of which the internal affairs of our country have been influenced. Once this tutelage has ceased, Iran will have achieved its economic and political independence." From a 1951 speech by Mohammed Mosaddeq, former Prime Minister of Iran until overthrown in a 1953 coup orchestrated by British and American intelligence agencies. The CIA run "Operation Ajax," headed by CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt and promoted by CIA Director Allen Dulles, used a paltry one million dollars to destabilize the elected Prime Minister. "Soon, massive protests, engineered by Roosevelt's team, took place across the city and elsewhere with tribesmen paid to be at the ready to assist the coup. Fake anti- and pro-monarchy protesters, both paid by Roosevelt (as he reports in his book, cited), violently clashed in the streets, looting and burning mosques and newspapers, leaving almost 300 dead." Does any of this sound familiar? Of course Ahmadinejad is no Mosaddeq, but you get the picture. Hey, we need the oil. The American way of life is non-negotiable.

I don't believe the reports

 Sat, 06/20/2009 - 17:32 — Heavyrunner (not verified)
I don't believe the reports of the "huge crowds" in Tehran supposedly protesting the election results. I haven't seen any pictures that show more than a few thousand protesters. I read that the crowd stretched for "5 miles" but I won't believe it until I see a picture of it. Isn't it a shame that this kind of attention was not paid to the stealing of the Florida election in 2000 and the Ohio election in 2004. Maybe the world would not be in such a mess if Al Gore had been President for the past two terms.

From Twitter:

 Sat, 06/20/2009 - 19:40 — Christopher Marlowe (not verified)
From Twitter: What'saMosaddeq?18 says: OMG! Soldiers are taking babies out of baby carriages and leaving them on the floor to die! The brutal regime is using brutal tactics to brutally repress our brave struggle against repression. Democracy is so going to prevail in the end with the help of our friends in the west. PS: I am a teenage student and not a CIA or Mossad agent. Gotta go.

Right after the election

 Sun, 06/21/2009 - 01:16 — Molly (not verified)
Right after the election Iranians went out on the streets of Tehran and burned cars and threw rocks. During the week people yelled, 'Death to Kameini." If crowds of people were roaming around the streets of New York burning cars, throwing rocks, yelling, "Death to Obama," what would the New york police do?

Iran is a classic example

 Sun, 06/21/2009 - 03:20 — Anonymous (not verified)
Iran is a classic example why separation of church and state is so essential for rational government. (And let's include Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and.....) It doesn't matter whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Mormon, Scientology, or Satanism --- religion is the antithesis of individual rights and dignity, serving it's own end for it's own power and wealth. Unfortunately, many conservative Christians in the U.S. would trade away their souls to have a government run by their interpretation "Christian" law.

You've said it for me. Sun,

 Mon, 06/22/2009 - 07:20 — Anonymous (not verified)
You've said it for me. Sun, 06/21/2009 - 03:20 — Anonymous. Separation of Church and State is the reason the USA has been able to be the leader on personal freedom and right that it has so far. The Bush administration almost undermined that very important aspect of our system. Lets hope this situation in Iran and in our own current history will stop all possibilities of ANY religious disease to infest our government.