'Iran arrests opposition protesters'
Updated on 23 December 2009
Iranian security forces have arrested at least 50 opposition supporters in the central city of Isfahan, according to a pro-reform website.
Parlemannews said those arrested included at least four Iranian journalists.
The arrests yesterday followed clashes between the security forces and supporters of the late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in at least two cities, including his birthplace.
"Sporadic clashes started from Tuesday night in Najafabad and still continued. The situation is tense in the city. People are chanting anti-government slogans," the Jaras website reported.
It also said "many" demonstrators were injured during the clashes in Isfahan.
"Security forces clashed with pro-reform protesters ... who gathered to commemorate ... Montazeri's demise," Jaras said. "Police fired teargas to disperse people ... many people were injured ... some arrested."
In Isfahan, plainclothes security agents are reported to have surrounded the house of a leading pro-reform cleric, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri.
The reported incidents took place two days after huge crowds turned out in the Shia holy city of Qom for the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric Montazeri, with many chanting anti-government slogans.
The reports from the two cities could not be verified independently because foreign media are banned from reporting directly on protests.
Montazeri, who died on Saturday at the age of 87, was an architect of the 1979 revolution that saw the US-backed Shah overthrown and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini become supreme leader of the Islamic state. But Montazeri fell out with Iran's leaders after criticising the mass execution of prisoners.
Iran has been hit by protests since the Presidential elections in June, which opposition leaders say were rigged to secure re-election for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Ahmadinejad's nuclear ambitions have been condemned by the West, which accuses Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons. The Iranian leadership says it's building a civilian nuclear programme to generate electricity.
YouTube videos
Videos have been posted on YouTube today allegedly showing Basiji militants attacking protestors. It is impossible to independently verify these pictures.
Title: esfahan 23 dec
Background voices:
"Let him go, let him go"
Title: Iran 23 Dec 09 Elm va Sanat Uni Student Protest
Background chants:
Death to dictator!
Rape, crime we will not support!
This month is the month of blood and Yazid will be toppled!
