TEHRAN, Iran: Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in the heart of Iran's capital , pelting them with rocks and setting fires in the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade.
They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival.
They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival.
- The brazen and angry confrontations,including stunning scenes of masked rioters tangling with black-clad police pushed the self-styled reformist movement closer to a possible moment of truth: Whether to continue defying Iran's powerful security forces or, as they often have before, retreat into quiet dismay and frustration over losing more ground to the Islamic establishment.
- The extent of possible casualties and detentions was not immediately clear. Police stormed the headquarters of Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and arrested several top reformist leaders, said political activists close to the party.The activists spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
- Mousavi did not appear in public, but warned in a Web message: "People won't respect those who take power through fraud."
- Many backers took this call to the streets. Thousands of protesters mostly young men roamed through Tehran looking for a fight with police and setting trash bins and tires ablaze. Pillars of black smoke rose among the mustard-colored apartment blocks and office buildings in central Tehran. In one side road, an empty bus was engulfed in flames.
- Police fought back with clubs, including mobile squads on motorcycles swinging truncheons.
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