Protests, Clashes Break Out in Iran on Anniversary of Disputed Election

TEHRAN, Iran — Small clashes erupted Saturday between demonstrators marking the first anniversary of Iran’s disputed presidential election and baton-wielding security forces, witnesses and opposition websites reported.

By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim
Los Angeles Times

Updated: 06/12/2010 09:40:19 PM CDT

The outbreaks of protest throughout Tehran, the capital, and in other cities drew groups numbering in the hundreds instead of the thousands or tens of thousands that characterized the massive street rallies of summer and fall 2009.

The protests came despite a last-minute decision by opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to call off the anniversary rally, apparently out of concern that the official crackdown would be too harsh.

The scuffles suggested the movement that sprang from the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained alive, even if it had lost much of its momentum.

“We came to the streets to show we will not cave in and we want real change,” said Mohsen, a 27-year-old student protester. “We want to prove that pressure on people will be counterproductive, and the huge number of anti-riot police and Basiji (militiamen) today with surgical masks in the streets shows who is afraid of whom.”

Iranian security officials, many of them veterans or acolytes of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, had warned of dire consequences for those who took to the streets.

“We will not allow any gathering or march to take shape and will deal decisively with those who would violate the ban,” Tehran’s police.

commander, Brig. Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, said early Saturday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Later in the day, officials downplayed the protests as insignificant, though they acknowledged a number of arrests.