-
Source: Reuters -
Related
Iranian security forces armed with batons and tear gas are
clashing with supporters of the late dissident cleric Grand
Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in two cities, opposition websites
are saying.
One report said tear gas and pepper gas were used against people
who were gathering for a Montazeri memorial service planned to take
place in a mosque in the city of Isfahan, while another said women
and children were among those beaten up.
Some opposition supporters were injured and dozens were arrested,
according to reformist websites, whose reports could not be
independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the
authorities.
If confirmed, they would further highlight escalating tension in
the major oil producer, six months after a disputed presidential
election plunged the Islamic Republic into its deepest internal
crisis since it was founded three decades ago.
Police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam warned the pro-reform opposition
of "fierce" confrontation if it continued its "illegal" activities,
the semi-official Fars news agency said.
Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami condemned the violence
in Isfahan, the reformist Parlemannews website said.
"Imam Khomeini (Iran's revolutionary leader) believed that the
Islamic Republic was based on two pillars - freedom and
independence. If these pillars become shaky ... we will have
tyranny again," Khatami said.
"Calling anyone who raises his voice a traitor, despite him
believing in the (Islamic) system, is a major deviation and should
be corrected," Khatami said.
The Jaras website said many demonstrators were hurt during the
clashes in Isfahan, which occurred during the traditional third day
of mourning for Montazeri, who died on Saturday night at the age of
87 in the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Qom.
"Police fired tear gas to disperse people ... many people were
injured ... some arrested," Jaras said.
Parlemannews said at least 50 opposition supporters, including four
journalists, were arrested in Isfahan, one of Iran's biggest and
most historic cities.
The website said plainclothes agents used pepper gas on a cleric
named Adib, who it said was an ally of opposition leader Mirhossein
Mousavi and who was supposed to deliver the memorial service
sermon, and arrested him by the Seyed mosque.
Security forces surrounded the mosque to stop people entering, the
Rah-e Sabz website said.
"Montazeri mourners shouted slogans against the top authorities,"
it said. "They are beating protesters, including women and
children, with batons, chains and stones."
The reported incidents took place two days after big crowds turned
out in Qom for the funeral of Montazeri, when many people chanted
anti-government slogans, websites said.
Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution and a
spiritual patron of the opposition, was a fierce critic of the
hardline clerical establishment who denounced President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's re-election in June as fraudulent.
His death occurred in the run-up to Ashura on December 27, a
politically important Shi'ite religious commemoration that offers
the opposition another opportunity to show its strength.
"Hypocrites"
Ahmadinejad's re-election, in a vote the opposition says was
rigged, kindled the biggest unrest in Iran's 30-year history and
split the political and clerical establishment.
The authorities deny poll rigging charges and have portrayed the
huge opposition protests that erupted after the poll as a
foreign-backed bid to topple the Islamic establishment.
Despite scores of arrests and security crackdowns, opposition
protests have repeatedly flared up since the vote.
Referring to the city where Montazeri was born, Jaras said:
"Sporadic clashes started from Tuesday night in Najafabad and still
continued. The situation is tense in the city. People are chanting
anti-government slogans."
In nearby Isfahan, it said plainclothes security agents surrounded
the house of a leading pro-reform cleric, Ayatollah Jalaleddin
Taheri, who had called on people to attend the memorial service for
Montazeri.
"I tried six different ways to get to the mosque but they were all
blocked," Parlemannews quoted him as saying.
Police sealed off streets in the area where the clashes took place
and motorists honked horns to protest against the security forces'
treatment of demonstrators, Jaras said.
The opposition reports from Isfahan and Najafabad could not be
confirmed independently because foreign media are banned from
reporting directly on protests.
Government supporters staged counter rallies in Qom on Tuesday and
Wednesday, condemning "the insult against sanctities" during
Montazeri's funeral, official media reported.
"This is the last time that something like that will happen in Qom.
This is not a place for hypocrites," Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri
Hamedani told the crowd, state television said.
Iran's internal unrest has complicated the dispute over the Iranian
nuclear programme, which the West believes may have military ends,
not just civilian purposes.
Montazeri played an important part in the 1979 revolution that
overthrew the US-backed shah and was once named to succeed
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader.
But he fell from grace after criticising the mass execution of
prisoners in the late 1980s.
