Iranian riot police clashed with hundreds of pro-reform protesters in central Tehran today and detained dozens of demonstrators, a witness said, in the latest unrest over last month's disputed election.
The witness said demonstrators were chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government, including: "Ahmadinejad - resign, resign" and "Death to dictators".
Police beating protesters who had gathered in Tehran's Haft-e Tir square in defiance of a ban on such demonstrations following the June 12th election, which the opposition says was rigged in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad, the witness said.
"Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they are taking them away," the witness said.
"There are hundreds of riot police and plainclothes [security forces], beating people who gathered to support [opposition leader Mirhossein] Mousavi," the witness said.
It came four days after clashes erupted between police and protesters for the first time in weeks on Friday after former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis and said there were doubts about the election result.
Elsewhere, Iran's top authority wants Mr Ahmadinejad to dismiss a senior official who has said Iran was friends with everyone, even the people of arch-foe Israel, a senior member of parliament said today.
Mr Ahmadinejad, re-elected for a second four-year term in a disputed presidential vote last month, has come under fire from fellow conservatives and hardliners for appointing Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie last Thursday as his first vice president.
The view of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Mr Mashaie should be dismissed "has been conveyed in a written way to the president," said Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, parliament's first vice speaker, the ISNA news agency reported.
He added: "This is a serious demand of the leader and it is the demand of the majority of parliament." He did not say when the letter was sent to Ahmadinejad or give other details.
Reuters