TEHRAN POLICE USED TEARGAS TO DISPERSE RALLY

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2009 14:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Police used batons and teargas to break up an
opposition protest in central Tehran on Wednesday, while huge crowds
staged a noisy anti-US rally nearby to mark the storming of the
American embassy by students 30 years ago.

Witnesses said the violent clashes occurred at Haft-e-Tir square in
the heart of the capital when riot police armed with batons and firing
teargas moved in on a crowd of several hundred opposition supporters
staging a protest. The protesters, who were chanting "Death to the
dictator," refused to disperse and dozens were beaten or arrested.

Groups of pro-government hardliners also gathered at the square
chanting "Death to America."

Wednesday’s anniversary, which has turned into a cornerstone of the
Islamic regime, marks the capture by radical Islamist students of
the US embassy compound on November 4, 1979 — just months after the
Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed shah.

The students, who took 52 American diplomats hostage and held them
for 444 days, said they were responding to Washington’s refusal to
hand over the deposed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The two countries broke diplomatic ties after the event, which have
yet to be restored.