Police clash with protesters
Police officers used tear gas and water cannons to beat back thousands of demonstrators gathering in the capital on Saturday, a day after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there would be “bloodshed” if street protests continued over the disputed presidential election.
State television reported that two people had been wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Tehran shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the southern part of the city, several miles from the scheduled protests. The report of the blast could not be independently confirmed.
The violence unfolded on a day of extraordinary tension across Iran, as opposition protesters swore to continue pressing their claims of a stolen election against Iran’s embattled and increasingly impatient clerical leadership. Iran’s divisions played out on the streets. Regular security forces stood back and calmly urged protesters to go home and avoid bloodshed, while the feared pro-government militia, the Basij, beat protesters with clubs and electric prods.
