RALLY DISPERSED IN TEHRAN AGAIN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.07.2009 12:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iranian riot police clashed with hundreds of
pro-reform protesters in central Tehran on Tuesday and detained
dozens of them, a witness said, in the latest unrest over last month’s
disputed election.

The witness said demonstrators were chanting slogans against President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government, including: "Ahmadinejad –
resign, resign" and "Death to dictators."

The witness said police beat protesters who had gathered in Tehran’s
Haft-e Tir square in defiance of a ban on such demonstrations following
the June 12 election, which the opposition says was rigged in favor
of Ahmadinejad.

"Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they
are taking them away," the witness said. "There are hundreds of riot
police and plainclothes (security forces), beating people who gathered
to support opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi."

The clash erupted four days after similar confrontations between police
and protesters for the first time in weeks on Friday after former
President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in
crisis and said there were doubts about the election result.

The authorities reject opposition charges of vote rigging.

The election stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in
Iran, the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, since the 1979 revolution
and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite.

At least 20 people died in post-election violence last month. Mousavi
and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police
and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed June’s protests,
but Mousavi has remained defiant, Reuters reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress