TEHRAN AND BEIRUT — Violent clashes erupted Thursday in downtown Tehran between thousands of defiant protesters chanting "Death to the dictator" and security forces wielding truncheons, as the political crisis over Iran's disputed presidential election stretched into its fourth week.
Contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces flooded the city's central squares and managed with batons and tear gas to eventually disperse the demonstrators, many of whom wore black and held up their fingers in V-for-victory salutes.
Demonstrators in and around Enghelab (Revolution) Square set fire to trash bins to ward off the effects of the tear gas, witnesses said, but mostly avoided engaging security forces in the rock throwing and running street battles that characterized the protests held just after the June 12 election.
There were reports of clashes in other Iranian cities, but they could not be confirmed.
Demonstrators said they were determined to defy the authorities, led by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who have demanded an end to rallies and acts of civil disobedience. Tracts distributed online and as leaflets called on protesters to borrow the nonviolent tactics of the U.S. civil rights movement, avoid rifts within their ranks and do nothing that would hamper morale.
Protesters chanted in support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who authorities say was defeated by incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential vote, and they urged security forces to join them.
"Mojtaba, may you die, so that you don't get the supreme leadership," went one chant, referring to Khamenei's son, who is said to be behind the crackdown and angling for his father's job.
Though the number of protesters was nowhere close to the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets soon after the election, organizers showed that they could quickly assemble a crowd despite the efforts of security forces.
Thursday was also the anniversary of a student uprising that was violently crushed by the government 10 years ago -- a perennial occasion for confrontations between demonstrators and police.
"It is going to continue," vowed a marcher in his 60s, big drops of sweat on his forehead. "They have killed our dear youth. How can we forgive them?"
Many of the demonstrators wore surgical masks to conceal their identities from cameras positioned on nearby buildings. They could be seen fleeing into side streets and regrouping as shops were quickly shuttered. Some witnesses said pro-government Basiji militiamen also wore masks, to hide their faces from protesters' cameras.
