Iran protests continue despite Government crackdown
AN IRANIAN crackdown on all dissent since the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a disputed vote four weeks ago has failed to keep supporters of his defeated challenger off the streets of Tehran.
Confronted with its most serious crisis since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the regime has deployed thousands of security personnel and hardline militiamen across the city to prevent any repetition of the demonstrations that saw hundreds of thousands rally in the days after the June 12 election.
The riot police were out again overnight but, despite the deployment of tear-gas and baton-wielding forces, several thousand protestors gathered in the streets around Tehran University, witnesses said.
The demonstration was called to mark the anniversary of student unrest in 1999 in which at least one person was killed, according to official figures, when hardline vigilantes stormed a campus dormitory where pro-reform activists were holed up.
But many protestors chanted slogans in support of Mr Ahmadinejad's defeated challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has denounced last month's election as a "shameful fraud".
They also chanted "death to the dictator", in an allusion to hardline incumbent, the witnesses added.
The authorities had warned of a harsh response to any commemoration of the 1999 unrest despite the "serious concern" about the post-election violence voiced by the G8 world powers at a summit in Italy this week.
"If some people make moves that are contrary to security initiatives under the influence of anti-revolutionary networks, they will be trampled under the feet of our alert people," Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon told the official IRNA news agency.
Riot police made several arrests as they fired two salvos of tear gas to disperse the protesters, the witnesses said.
The demonstrators set fire to roadside rubbish bins and smashed the windows of a state-owned bank.
The authorities have banned foreign media from covering all public events without specific authorisation ever since the wave of protests first erupted.
At least 20 people have been killed, according to official figures, and hundreds more arrested.
Authorities have also blocked popular websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which Iranians made massive use of last month to spread news of the unprecedented demonstrations against the Islamic regime's leadership.
One image in particular has come to symbolise the crushing of the protest movement- video footage of a young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, bleeding to death from a gunshot wound received during one of the demonstrations.
The defeated challenger has insisted he remains uncowed by the government's crackdown and earlier this month renewed his demand for a re-run of the election.
"The majority of the society to which I belong will not recognise the legitimacy of the government, Mr Mousavi said.
"Our historic duty is to continue the protests to defend the rights of the people... and prevent the blood spilled by hundreds of thousands of martyrs from leading to a police state."
The Iranian leadership has hit back by accusing Mousavi of being an agent of meddling Western powers.
The Government has singled out Britain and France for criticism, rather than its longtime
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