TEHRAN: Security forces clashed with opposition protesters Wednesday who had gathered for a memorial for Iran’s most senior dissident cleric, beating men and women and firing tear gas, reports said.
The gathering at the main mosque in the central city of Isfahan, 325 kilometers southeast of Tehran, was meant to honor Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the leader of the Iranian reformist movement who died on Sunday.
His death set off large memorial ceremonies that turned into pro-opposition protests in defiance of a months-long government crackdown on protesters rallying against the disputed June presidential elections. Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
More than 50 people were arrested on Wednesday in Isfahan, including pro-opposition leader Masoud Adib, who was expected to address the gathering at the mosque, the Salaamnews and Parlemannews websites said.
Mourners poured out in thousands into the streets leading to the mosque, although anti-riot police and plainclothes pro-government Basij militiamen had blocked the neighborhood, the websites said. Parlemannews reported that Basij beat people, including women, and used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. It said troops also surrounded the home of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, a senior reformist, who organized the memorial.
Farid Salavati, an Isfahan resident who tried to attend the memorial, said anti-riot police and militiamen surrounded the Seyed Mosque since early morning.
“They didn’t allow anybody to enter the mosque,” Salavati told The Associated Press. He said baton-wielding riot police clubbed people on the head and shoulders, and kicked men and women alike, injuring dozens. The memorial did not take place, he added.
