POLICE USES TEAR GAS TO HALT OPPOSITION PROTESTS
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.06.2009 20:59 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Riot police cracked down anew on demonstrators in
Iran’s capital on Monday hours after the feared Revolutionary Guard
threatened to crush any further post-election protests. A witness
described an "air of sadness" marked by people wailing prayers into
the night, the AP reported.
Security forces used tear gas and fired live bullets in the air
to break up a group of about 200 protesters paying tribute to a
young woman whose apparent shooting death was captured on video and
circulated around the world, witnesses said.
The show of force came as the country’s highest electoral authority,
the Guardian Council, acknowledged some irregularities in 50 districts
– including more votes being cast than registered voters. But the
council insisted the result of the June 12 presidential election was
not affected.
The Guards’ threat of "revolutionary confrontation" if the protests
persist was another signal the regime is taking a zero-tolerance
approach to Iran’s worst civil unrest since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered opposition supporters
on Friday to halt their marches and respect the election outcome,
saying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a resounding victory.
Iran says at least 17 protesters have died in a week of unrest,
including at least 10 killed in confrontations the day after Khamenei’s
speech Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has alleged
widespread and systematic fraud, issued his own challenge Sunday,
telling supporters: "The country belongs to you … Protesting against
lies and fraud is your right."