Iran Forces Dig In Along Protest Routes

By FARNAZ FASSIHI

TEHRAN, Iran -- Thousands of demonstrators chanting against the government poured into the streets in nationwide protests on Sunday, clashing with security forces trying to disperse them, according to witness accounts.

In Tehran, protestors targeted government landmarks such as the national broadcast company Seda va Sima--seen as a mouthpiece for the regime--chanting "God is great," and "Death to the dictator," witnesses reported on opposition websites.

Since early Sunday morning thousands of anti-riot police and Basij militia on motorbikes stood guard along the protest route all along Vali Assr Avenue, the capital's longest road that connects the affluent northern part of town to the poor southern neighborhoods.

One witness said they fired tear gas at the crowd outside of the national broadcast company. Violent clashes were reported on Enghelab Avenue with dozens of injuries and at least 15 people arrested, according to opposition websites live blogging events from several Iranian cities.

Tehran's municipality has reportedly removed trash bins from most neighborhoods because they are often set on fire by crowds, according to witnesses.

Tension and violence is expected to increase as the crowds get larger and darkness descends. Mobile services have been cut off in most Tehran neighborhoods and Internet has slowed down, apparently due to government controls.

For the past few days, opposition supporters and activists posted online pledges on a Facebook page for Sunday's event, named after the date of the Iranian calendar 1 Esfand.

"Join us dear ones for the day Iran will be free," said one post.

The government had warned that it would crack down on any illegal gatherings. As a stern warning to protestors, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, warned the public that Sunday's protests would be bloody because "opposition plans to shoot people." That, opposition groups worry, could be an attempt to build a justification for a violent crackdown.

Iran's opposition has raised the stakes by openly labeling the struggle as a fight against "a religious dictatorship," according to a statement.

The statement, endorsed by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, appears for the first time to give the opposition's goal some clarity after tens of thousands of supporters took to the streets of Iran calling for regime change last Monday.

Sunday is the seventh day of mourning for two slain students Sanah Jaleh, 26, and Mohamad Mokhtari, 22, who were shot dead on Monday when security forces attacked the crowd.

The public uproar and the government's reaction to the killing--it claimed the students were pro-government agents despite family denials--is giving the opposition some momentum, in addition to a wave of antigovernment uprisings across the Middle East.

"The system governing Iran now is neither Islamic nor a Republic. The Islamic Republic has already collapsed at the hands of this regime," said Mr. Karoubi on Friday, in one of his harshest criticisms of the government, according to his website citing a message he sent to supporters through an advisor.

Iran's government is also striking back at the opposition with a coordinated campaign that includes isolating its leaders under house arrest, slandering them in state media as agents of U.S. and Israel and rallying people to chant against them in the streets.

For the past week, Messrs. Karoubi and Mousavi have been placed under strict house arrest with very little communication to the outside world. Their team of bodyguards, from the Revolutionary Guards elite Ansar Mehdi branch, was dismissed and intelligence agents took over their protection, according to their websites.

A number of Iranian student activist groups issued statements on Friday warning Iran's government against harming the leaders and said there would be a price to pay, including "violent revolutionary actions," by students according to the statement by Tehran University medical students posted on websites.

via online.wsj.com