TEHRAN: Iranian opposition leaders were attacked on Friday as their supporters battled riot police, with tens of thousands mounting the first protest in two months against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi had to abandon plans to take part after an angry crowd shouting “Death to the hypocrite Mousavi” attacked his car, the official IRNA news agency said.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, a key Mousavi supporter whose 1997 to 2005 term saw a mild thaw in relations with the West, was also assaulted before being rescued by riot police, reformist website parlemannews.ir said.
“During the scuffle, his turban fell off and they wanted to beat him but supporters resisted them and the riot police promptly intervened,” it said. Khatami’s brother, Mohammad Reza, said he was uninjured. “Some people shouted slogans against him,” he told AFP.
“He is home now. He is not hurt and he is fine.” As Ahmadinejad gave the keynote speech at Tehran University, renewing comments about Israel and the “myth” of the Holocaust that have sparked an international outcry, tens of thousands chanted against him in nearby streets, witnesses said.
Protesters defied dire warnings from top officials against demonstrating during Iran’s annual mass display of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Shouting slogans in support of Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s main challenger in the June 12 election, they gathered in major squares around the capital before heading to the university.
Supporters of the government among the more than 100,000 people who joined the Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally mounted counterdemonstrations, leading to repeated scuffles, the witnesses said.
Baton-wielding riot police beat protesters who were pelting them with stones in central Haft-e-Tir Square, they told AFP.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who chanted: “Torture and rape are not effective any more,” one witness said.
The attacks on Mousavi and Khatami drew criticism both at home and abroad. “I don’t accept such aggressions and illegal acts. I don’t approve of them,” Parliament’ Deputy Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar said.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Paris is “highly concerned by reports of violence committed against leaders of the Iranian opposition.” There were also reports of clashes in other cities, as unrest over the presidential election flared again for the first time since July 19 in a sign of the seriousness of the challenge facing the regime.
Members of the Basij militia attacked and seized demonstrators in both Tabriz in the northwest and Isfahan south of the capital, the mowjcamp.com opposition website said. State television played down the unrest.
“A few demonstrators protested against Ahmadinejad but they were drowned in the massive crowds of people expressing solidarity with the Palestinians,” it said.
The protests came despite a threat from the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to crush any renewed attempt to contest the official election results giving Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.
