STREET RIOTERS DEFY IRAN'S POWERFUL SECURITY FORCES
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.
AHMADINEJAD WINS IRAN'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, has won a second term in office after a bitterly fought election, Iran's interior ministry says.
Ahmadinejad took 62.63 per cent of the vote, crushing Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival, who got just 33.75 per cent, according to results released on Saturday.
The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics which oversees Iran's constitution, is still to release its count, but there seemed little doubt about the result after Ayatollah Ali Kham
eini, the supreme leader, congratulated Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi, who had himself declared victory just moments after the polls closed on Friday, described the decision to declare Ahmadinejad as the winner as "treason to the votes of the people".
"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," he said in a statement.
"The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."
Mousavi complained that many people had been prevented from voting, in part due to a shortage of ballot papers, and said that the authorities had blocked text messaging, which his campaign has used to reach young voters.
Khamenei dispelled any speculation he might use his powers to intervene in the poll-results dispute.
In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment".
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
Ahmadinejad took 62.63 per cent of the vote, crushing Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival, who got just 33.75 per cent, according to results released on Saturday.
The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics which oversees Iran's constitution, is still to release its count, but there seemed little doubt about the result after Ayatollah Ali Kham
eini, the supreme leader, congratulated Ahmadinejad.Mousavi, who had himself declared victory just moments after the polls closed on Friday, described the decision to declare Ahmadinejad as the winner as "treason to the votes of the people".
"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," he said in a statement.
"The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."
Mousavi complained that many people had been prevented from voting, in part due to a shortage of ballot papers, and said that the authorities had blocked text messaging, which his campaign has used to reach young voters.
Khamenei dispelled any speculation he might use his powers to intervene in the poll-results dispute.
In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment".
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
