Iran’s opposition chiefs attacked

TEHRAN: What the irani as a nation did protest against the last president election ,during last two month ,has proved their rightness,Iranian opposition chiefs were attacked on Friday as their supporters battled riot police, with tens of thousands mounting the first protest in two months against the re-election of President Mahmoud AhmadinejadMahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi had to abandon plans to take part after an angry crowd of hardliners shouting “Death to the hypocrite Mousavi” attacked his car, the official IRNA news agency said.
Former president Mohammad KhatamiMohammad Khatami, a key Mousavi supporter whose 1997 to 2005 term saw a mild thaw in relations with the West, was also assaulted before being rescued by riot police, reformist website parlemannews.ir said.
“During the scuffle, his turban fell off and they wanted to beat him but supporters resisted them and the riot police promptly intervened,” it said. Khatami’s brother, Mohammad Reza, said he was uninjured.
“Some people shouted slogans against him,” he told AFP. “He is home now. He is not hurt and he is fine.” Protesters defied dire warnings from top officials against demonstrating during Iran’s annual mass display of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Shouting slogans in support of Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s main challenger in the June 12 election, they gathered in major squares around the capital before heading to the university.
Supporters of the regime among the more than 100,000 people who joined the al-Quds rally mounted counter-demonstrations, leading to repeated scuffles, the witnesses said.
Baton-wielding riot police beat protesters who were pelting them with stones in central Haft-e Tir Square, they told AFP.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who chanted: “Torture and rape are not effective any more,” one witness said.
That was a reference to opposition allegations of abuses against some of the more than 4,000 activists and reformist politicians detained during the post-election disturbances.