Security forces kill 4 protesters in Iran
Source: Agencies |
December 28, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IRANIAN security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in Tehran yesterday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, opposition Websites and witnesses said.
Thousands of opposition supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any protests coinciding with a religious observance yesterday.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air. They then opened fire directly at protesters, killing at least three people, said witnesses and the pro-reform Website Rah-e-Sabz.
Witnesses said one of the victims was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead.
The clashes marked the bloodiest confrontation between protesters and security forces since the height of the unrest in the weeks after June's disputed presidential election. The opposition says Ahmadinejad won the June election through massive vote fraud and that its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the true winner.
The witnesses and opposition Website said angry protesters threw stones at security forces and set dozens of their motorbikes on fire. Police helicopters circled overhead as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky over the capital.
Police had blocked streets leading to the center of Tehran to try to prevent thousands of people from joining the protest. Still, many opposition supporters managed to break the security wall.
Fierce clashes also broke out between security forces and opposition supporters in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad.
Thousands of opposition supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any protests coinciding with a religious observance yesterday.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air. They then opened fire directly at protesters, killing at least three people, said witnesses and the pro-reform Website Rah-e-Sabz.
Witnesses said one of the victims was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead.
The clashes marked the bloodiest confrontation between protesters and security forces since the height of the unrest in the weeks after June's disputed presidential election. The opposition says Ahmadinejad won the June election through massive vote fraud and that its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the true winner.
The witnesses and opposition Website said angry protesters threw stones at security forces and set dozens of their motorbikes on fire. Police helicopters circled overhead as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky over the capital.
Police had blocked streets leading to the center of Tehran to try to prevent thousands of people from joining the protest. Still, many opposition supporters managed to break the security wall.
Fierce clashes also broke out between security forces and opposition supporters in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad.
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