TEHRAN: Iranian police fired tear gas and beat anti-government protesters with batons to disperse thousands at a graveside memorial on Thursday for victims of postelection violence, witnesses and state television said.
Demonstrations that drew thousands more later spread to other parts of Tehran and more clashes with security forces erupted. Witnesses said police fired tear gas at dozens of demonstrators on Valiasr Street who set tires and trash cans ablaze in response.
Police barred opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from joining the crowd around the grave of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman shot dead at a June 20 protest rally. The 27-year-old music student’s dying moments on the pavement were filmed and circulated widely on the Web, and her name became a rallying cry for the opposition.
“Neda is alive,” some of those at the ceremony chanted. Witnesses said plainclothes forces charged at them with batons and tear gas, some of them chanting, “Death to those who are against the supreme leader.” State television also reported that police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
An amateur video that purports to show the memorial shows thousands marching through the cemetery, chanting and flashing victory signs. Some wore green T-shirts — the color of Mousavi’s reformist movement.
With Thursday’s ceremony, the opposition aimed to harness growing anger over abuses in the nearly 7-week-old crackdown and give their movement further momentum in the face of the continuing wave of arrests. Allegations of torture against jailed protesters — some to the point of death — have become an embarrassment to the country’s leadership, bringing criticism from top preachers and even fellow conservatives.
Thousands also gathered at the main Mosalla Mosque in central Tehran, with heavy security forces nearby and at other major intersections. When Mousavi arrived at the grave site, hundreds of police surrounded him as supporters chanted slogans. Police forced Mousavi to leave Behesht-e-Zahra, the vast cemetery on Tehran’s southern outskirts where many of those killed in the crackdown have been buried, the witnesses said.
His supporters remained at the grave, chanting anti-government slogans. The police charge came when an ally of Mousavi, Mahdi Karoubi, who was also a candidate in the June 12 election, tried to give a speech. Karoubi had to flee the site, and several of his aides were beaten and harassed, according to pro-opposition websites.
Police arrested two prominent filmmakers when they tried to lay flowers at Soltan’s grave. One of them was Jafar Panahi, best known for his film “The Circle,” which was critical of the treatment of women and was banned in Iran. A woman documentary maker, Mahnaz Mohammadi, was arrested with him.
