Iran toughens language
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By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Police broke up a protest in Tehran on Monday hours after the hardline Revolutionary Guards said they would crush any fresh resistance from "rioters."
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Yet in a gesture of defiance first used in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and now adopted by pro-reform protesters, people again chanted "Allahu Akbar" from their rooftops at nightfall.
Witnesses said supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi had gathered earlier in Tehran's Haft-e Tir square.
But Iran's state Press TV channel said they had been dispersed following the arrival of security forces.
Residents said riot police, some on motorbikes, and members of the religious Basij militia, were out in force.
One witness said that from his balcony he had seen a group chanting slogans being attacked by the Basij, who dragged the protesters out of a nearby house to which they had fled.
"The Basiji were really aggressive and swearing at me to go inside," the witness said. "I was scared they were going to break into my house too."
The statement on Monday by the Guards, viewed as the most loyal guardians of the ruling clerical establishment, clearly signaled a crackdown on any fresh unrest over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"In the current sensitive situation ... the Guards will firmly confront in a revolutionary way rioters and those who violate the law," said a statement on the Guards' website.
Mousavi, who was officially beaten into second place by Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election which he says was rigged, called late on Sunday for fresh protests by his supporters.
Ali Shahrokhi, head of parliament's judiciary committee, said Mousavi should be prosecuted for "illegal protests and issuing provocative statements," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
EMBASSY AID?
Iranian authorities have accused Western powers of supporting the protests -- the most widespread since 1979 -- and have not ruled out expulsions of some European ambassadors.
Sweden, the European Union's next president, said members should consider drafting a plan to take in and provide aid to demonstrators at their Iranian embassies, while Italy said it was prepared to open its embassy to wounded protesters. Continued...
Source: Reuters
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