http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10324518.html
Iran
Iran
Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have
planned a massive rally in Tehran later on Saturday.
Iran warns opposition against staging street rally
AP
Published: June 20, 2009, 13:25
Tehran: Iran's opposition leader received another stern warning on
Saturday not to encourage his supporters to take to the streets a day after the
country's top leader sought to end the deepening election crisis by effectively
declaring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.
Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have planned a
massive rally in Tehran later on Saturday, but it was unclear if he would
attend and how large the rally would be after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei ordered opposition leaders on Friday to end street protests or be held
responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come.
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Iran's Interior Ministry reiterated the warning to Mousavi on
Saturday, saying he would "be held responsible for the consequences of any
illegal gatherings." The ministry also accused the 67-year-old former prime
minister of supporting protests that "have lead to the disruption of security
and public order," State Security Council secretary, Abbas Mohtaj, said in a
statement on the ministry's website.
The warnings place Mousavi at a pivotal moment. He can either back
down or risk a crushing response from police and the forces at Khamenei's
disposal - the powerful Revolutionary Guard and their volunteer citizen
militia, the basij.
There also are questions about Mousavi's ability to control his own
followers, many who are waiting for a clear response to Khamenei's edict on
Friday before Saturday's planned rally.
Mousavi, who accuses the government of widespread voter fraud in
the June 12 election, and the two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad
were to meet with Iran's Guardian Council on Saturday. The council, an
unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei,
investigates voter fraud claims.
The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount
of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. It not clear,
however, if they have initiated any investigations.
It also was unclear if the planned rally on Saturday would take
place, and if so, how many people would attend. Hundreds of thousands of
Mousavi supporters have flooded Tehran streets during several massive marches
earlier this week that recall the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
In a first sign of possible resistance to Khamenei's orders came
shortly after nightfall in Tehran Friday. Cries of "Death to the dictator!" and
"Allahu akbar" - "God is great" - rang from rooftops in what's become a nightly
ritual of opposition unity.
Since the June 12 election, Mousavi has become the figurehead for a
broad collection of demonstrators - from the most liberal-leaning reformists to
religious conservatives. Some could be prepared to take their protests to the
limit, but many others have no interest in an all-out mutiny against the
country's Islamic system.
Khamenei was blunt Friday about what a wider fight would bring -
warning those who "want to ignore the law or break the law" will face the
consequences.
Police clashed with protesters in running battles around Tehran
immediately after the election and the basij militia had a reported role in
attacks at the university. Gunfire from a basij compound in Tehran also left at
least seven people dead on Monday.
But the full force of the police and Revolutionary Guard has
remained in check. And this was Khamenei's implicit message since the Guard and
the vast volunteer militia force it controls is under direct command of the
ruling clerics
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