Middle East Reports of new protests in Iran Anti-government protesters have gathered in Tehran and other cities to honour two who died during earlier demonstration. D. Parvaz Last Modified: 20 Feb 2011 15:41 GMT
There are reports of renewed anti-government protests in Iran, with demonstrators taking to the streets in several cities across the country. There have also been clashes between protesters and security forces, posts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter said on Sunday. Protesters have reportedly thronged Tehran's Vali-Asr and Enghelab squares. Similar demonstrations are being reported in Shiraz and Isfahan. Reformist news sites said security forces were responding to the protests in some measure. Rahesabz.net reported that a number of plainclothes Basij security forces, some on motorcycle, had arrived at the protest in Shiraz, carrying the flag of the Islamic republic. They also blocked the entrance to some streets. A page on Facebook used to organise the protests also carried a post saying that security forces were beating protesters with batons and chains in the northern city of Rasht. The page also quoted witnesses as saying that tear gas had been used against protesters in Tehran, and the BBC Persian website said gunshots had been heard in the Abbas Abad area, west of Vali-Asr street. 'Scare tactics' Meanwhile, Kaleme.com - which belongs to Mir Hossein Mousavi, who, along with fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi remains under house arrest - reported that plainclothes security forces were speeding through crowds of protesters in Tehran in an attempt to scare the crowd, causing them to panic and disperse Al Jazeera cannot independently confirm the reports. State news agency Fars, however, said that Tehran is in a state of "total calm". The Iranian government has tried to dissuade protesters from taking to the streets via state media, first by saying that members of the banned group People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MKO) were planning on killing people at the protests. The Fars news agency also published an interview with lawmaker Seyyed Mohammad Javad Aabtehi, in which he said that not only should people refrain from participating in any kind of gathering, but that they should even avoid observing the protests. The Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA) reported that prior to the start of the protests on Sunday, there were also numerous reports of uniformed and plainclothes security forces in several key gathering points in the capital and that there were "several cars in Azadi street which are believed to be for detaining the citizens". Follow D. Parvaz on Twitter. ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
