THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a mass rally in Tehran to protest against alleged vote rigging.
Despite official orders banning the demonstration from going ahead, Mr Mousavi addressed his followers as they chanted "give us back our votes".
Standing on a car roof and speaking to the surging crowds through a loud hailer, he declared: "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person."
In contrast to a previous rally on Saturday, the security forces made no attempt to break up the gathering, although there were occasional clashes with bystanders suspected to be supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As night fell, there were reports of gunmen firing on protesters, killing at least one person and wounding several others in Tehran's Azadi Square. The shooting is thought to have come from a compound for volunteer militia linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
But most police stood watching with their helmets and shields at their sides, while protesters – wearing the green wristbands, scarves and hats that have symbolised the Mousavi campaign – urged them to join in the demonstration.
"Law enforcers, support us, support us!" they shouted. "You are green like us!" Others urged Mohammad Khatami, the former president who pioneered the reformist movement and who backed Mr Mousavi's candidacy, to also attend the rally. Mr Khatami had earlier criticised the authorities for denying permission for the demonstration, and said that the election had dented public trust in the regime. >>> By Colin Freeman | Monday, June 15, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Hardliners Open Fire as Tension Grips Tehran
Tehran was a tinderbox last night after government paramilitaries started shooting during a huge public protest against last Friday's disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Members of the Basij, a force of young Islamic hardliners, killed one demonstrator and wounded several more when their building was attacked, after tens of thousands of demonstrators held a rally against election fraud in defiance of a government ban.
In another incident, a witness told The Times how she watched from her car as riot police on six motorbikes opened fire on youths walking under a bridge after the rally.
“The riot police started shooting them with big guns,” she said. “It wasn’t like the films where there is just a small hole — the shooting was blowing off hands, limbs. It was terrrible, terrible.”
Gunfire was heard in at least three other districts of the Iranian capital. The Ministry of the Interior was rumoured to have authorised the use of live ammunition as the regime struggled to maintain control. Supporters of the defeated candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, fought running battles with the police and Basiji, who have flooded into Tehran. >>> Martin Fletcher | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
