Riot police deployed in Tehran

4 Aug 2009, 12:04 pm   -   Source: SBS staff and agencies
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Iranian riot police have been deployed in parts of Tehran, following the official endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president.

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Iranian riot police have been deployed in parts of Tehran, following the official endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president.

Witnesses said hundreds of opposition supporters tried to stage a demonstration at Vali Asr Square but they were prevented from gathering by riot police.
  
"The police presence was strong but there were no clashes," one witness said. "The people were not very aggressive and left when police told them to."
  
The Fars news agency reported that opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi joined a gathering of around 100 supporters at a key intersection in central Tehran but riot police prevented them from demonstrating.
  
Ahmadinejad's landslide victory in the June presidential vote was met with a vast outpouring of public anger and opposition complaints the vote was rigged.
  
At least 30 people were killed and several thousand protesters rounded up, including reform figures and journalists.

Video leaked on YouTube

Meanwhile amateur video posted on YouTube showed people protesters marching and chanting through the streets of Tehran.

Other video shows a line of cars, with drivers beeping their horns.

Witnesses said dozens of riot police and Basij militia assembled at a central Tehran Square after the ceremony to prevent pro-Mousavi supporters from attending a planned protest

Ayatollah endorses Ahmadinejad

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a new four-year term, describing him as "courageous" but telling him to listen to his critics.
  
In a sign of the escalating feud between rival political factions over Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed re-election, key opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony, state television said.
  
Khamenei, who has given his full backing to Ahmadinejad despite a political spat, described his protege as a "courageous, astute and hardworking," and hailed his "unprecedented" victory on June 12.
  
But he warned Ahmadinejad that the "angry, wounded opposition" would continue challenging his government and told him to heed the views of his critics, in a possible reference to a row between the president and his own conservative supporters
 

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