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Iran Police Fire Tear Gas At Opposition Rally In Tehran
BBC NEWS, MIDDLE EAST
February 14, 2011: Iranian police have fired tear gas at opposition supporters participating in a rally in the centre of the capital, Tehran, called in solidarity with the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. A BBC producer affected by the gas said there had been severe clashes and described a scene of "total chaos". There were also reports of protests in the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz.
Earlier, the police placed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi under house arrest, according to his website. It said the move was intended to prevent the former prime minister attending the march in Tehran, which the authorities had prohibited. The road leading to Mr Mousavi's house was also blocked by police vans.
Fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi a former Speaker of parliament and senior cleric, is also reportedly under de facto house arrest.
Both men disputed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, which triggered mass protests that drew the largest crowds in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and led to a brutal crackdown. The opposition says more than 80 of its supporters were killed over the next six months, a figure the government disputes. Several have been sentenced to death, and dozens jailed.
In their first major show of dissent since Ashura in December 2009 when eight people were killed, thousands of opposition supporters defied the government ban and gathered at Tehran's Azadi Square on Monday, February 14, 2011. They chanted "Death to dictators". Riot police and plain-clothes police backed by the Republican Guards used tear gas to disperse the protesters, he adds.
The fiercest clashes were reported on Azerbaijan Street, close to Azadi Square, and one witness said a number of ambulances had come and gone. Mr Mousavi's website, Kaleme.com, said that according to unconfirmed reports, "hundreds of protesters" had been arrested. There has been no official confirmation.
Analysts say Tehran is trying to stop opposition groups from using the Egypt rally as a means to re-ignite anti-government protests of 2009. Both the Iranian government and the opposition have claimed credit for the recent popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
The government says the mass protests were inspired by Iran's 1979 revolution, while the opposition says its 2009 protests encouraged the unrest. The opposition also says peaceful rallies do not need permission.
Last week, White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "For all of its empty talk about Egypt, the government of Iran should allow the Iranian people the same universal right to peacefully assemble and demonstrate in Tehran that the people are exercising in Cairo."
