Thousands defy Iranian rally ban

Tens of thousands of Iranian government supporters and dozens of opposition activists hold coinciding marches on Quds Day in Tehran.

Iranian opposition supporters chant slogans in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, portrait.

TEHRAN, IRAN // Tens of thousands of Iranian government supporters and dozens of opposition activists poured out onto the streets of Tehran on Friday for coinciding marches marking an annual pro-Palestinian commemoration. Police and security troops, along with the pro-government Basij militia that helped crush mass street protests this summer against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, were deployed along main squares and boulevards but the rallies kicked off peacefully.

Mr Ahmadinejad joined one of the government-sponsored marches heading to the Tehran University campus where he was to address supporters before a Friday prayer service. The opposition has said it would also hold its own protest today, despite warnings by the clerical establishment against anti-government rallies. There has not been a mass opposition demonstration since mid-July, when authorities cracked down heavily on the opposition. Both opposition leaders - Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi - were to appear at the opposition rally, raising concerns for a showdown between security troops and opposition activists.

By mid-morning in central Tehran, dozens of opposition supporters in green T-shirts and wearing green wristbands - a colour symbolising the opposition movement - marched with fingers raised in the V-sign for victory and chanting "Death to the Dictator." Others shouted for the government to resign and carried small photos of Mr Mousavi. There were also chants of: "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, but our life is for Iran" - a slogan defying the regime's support for Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla.

Just hundreds of metres away on the main Keshavarz Boulevard, thousands of Ahmadinejad supporters marched carrying huge photographs of the president and also the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some in the government-sponsored rally chanted: "Death to those who oppose the Supreme Leader!" The demonstrations mark Quds Day - an annual event dedicated to condemning Israel and expressing support for the Palestinians. Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.

On Thursday, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard warned opposition protesters against holding anti-government demonstrations, saying that if they attempted "any sort of violation and disorder" they will encounter "strong confrontation". Mr Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, last week also warned the oppositions against using Quds Day for other purpose than demonstrating solidarity with the Palestinians.

The pro-reform camp claims Mr Mousavi was the rightful winner of the June 12 presidential election and that the government faked the balloting in Mr Ahmadinejad's favour. Since the vote, thousands of opposition supporters held street demonstrations against the alleged vote fraud but were met with a heavy government clamp down. The opposition says at least 72 protesters were killed in the violence that followed the election, while government officials maintain that only 36 died in the unrest - the worst in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the current regime to power.

Thousands were arrested, and the regime's opponents have charged some detainees were tortured to death in prison. Customarily on Quds Day, Tehran residents gather for pro-Palestinian rallies in various parts of the city, march through the streets and later converge for the prayers ceremony. The ceremony was established in 1979 by the leader of the Islamic Revolution and founder of present-day Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

*AP