TEHRAN, June 13 (Reuters) - Thousands of people clashed with police today after the disputed election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked the biggest protests in Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranians to respect Ahmadinejad's victory in an presidential election that his closest challenger described as a “dangerous charade”.
The scale of Ahmadinejad's triumph upset widespread expectations that reformist candidate Mirhossein Mousavi might win the race.
Trouble erupted on the streets when riot police, on motorcycles and armed with batons, beat Mousavi supporters who rejected the result of Friday's vote.
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| Mousavi supporters set fire to a dumpster and a motorcycle during unrest in Tehran. Reuters |
Mousavi protested against what he called violations and vote-rigging during the election. Interior Ministry officials rejected the allegations.
At least three people were injured in the clashes, which broke out after the Interior Ministry announced the hardline incumbent's resounding victory in Friday's vote.
Mousavi said members of his election headquarters had been beaten “with batons, wooden sticks and electrical rods”.
Tehran's deputy police chief, Mohsen Khancharli, said the force would “strongly confront” any gathering or rally held without permission.
“Police are not confronting people but only those who are disturbing public order or who make damage to public places,” he told the official IRNA news agency.
Up to 3,000 Mousavi supporters took part in the protests.
Some chanted “Mousavi take back our vote! What happened to our vote?”.
Others chanted anti-Ahmadinejad slogans, bringing traffic to a standstill. “We are Iranians too,” and “Mousavi is our president,” they shouted.
Khamenei, Iran's top authority, told defeated candidates and their supporters to avoid “provocative behaviour”.
“The chosen and respected president is the president of all the Iranian nation and everyone, including yesterday's competitors, must unanimously support and help him,” Khamenei said in a statement read on state television.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, an ally of the hardline Ahmadinejad, declared the president had been re-elected to a second four-year term with 62.6 percent of the vote, against 33.7 percent for Mousavi, in a record 85 percent turnout.
Mousavi, a veteran of the 1979 Islamic revolution, protested against what he said were many obvious election violations.
“I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny,” Mousavi said in a statement made available to Reuters. |
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