Reporting from Tehran and Beirut — Clashes between hundreds of determined young men and women chanting, "Death to the dictator" and "God is great" and security forces wielding truncheons erupted in downtown Tehran today.
The screams of a woman being beaten could be heard from nearby buildings. Business owners could be seen hustling protesters into their buildings to shield them from anti-riot police and plainclothes enforcers.
Many of the demonstrators wore surgical masks to protect their identities from cameras stationed at adjacent buildings. They could be seen escaping into side streets and regrouping as shops quickly were shuttered.
Uniformed security forces on motorcycles wearing black helmets and plainclothes officers had blocked off streets around Revolution Square, near the Tehran University epicenter of the protest. Police vans to haul away protesters could be seen parked along the roadways.
Despite the lack of formal organizers and leadership, thousands of people in cities across Iran were determined to march today in unauthorized demonstrations to show their discontent over the reelection last month of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a violent confrontation between students and security forces.
Tehran's Governor General Morteza Tamaddon said earlier today that any protesters would receive a "crushing" response.
"No request was made for any permit for rallies on Thursday, and no permit has been issued," he said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
"The enemies of the Iranian nation are angry with the post-election calm in Iran and try to damage it through their TV channels," he said.
Ahmadinejad's June 12 reelection, marred by opposition allegations of massive vote-rigging, has created the biggest political rift within the nation since the first years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A movement built on Mousavi's presidential campaign continues to challenge authorities, who have attempted to crush dissent by beating and jailing demonstrators.
The Guardian Council announced Wednesday that it would publish an 80-page report addressing complaints about the election to submit to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian people, according to the pro-government Fars news agency.
Iranian hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami publicly denied reports that some clergy were gathering signatures to remove or reduce the power of his boss, Ali Khamenei, according to Fars, an unusual comment that some analysts said served to confirm rumors that such a move was afoot.
The Assembly of Experts, which oversees the office of the supreme leader, is led by Khamenei's rival, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, within Iran's unique political system, which grants the clergy absolute rule under a theological concept known as Velayat Faqih, or the guardianship of jurisprudence.
"I reassure the great Iranian nation that the Assembly of Experts will protect Velayat Faqih and will carry out its duty, which is safeguarding Velayat Faqih," said Khatami.
daragahi@latimes.com
Mostaghim is a special correspondent.
