Tehran protest broken up after Revolutionary Guard warning (Roundup)

Jun 22, 2009, 17:40 GMT

Tehran/Berlin - Iranian security forces used tear gas to break up renewed protests in the capital Tehran Monday, after the country's top military unit warned protestors against further manifestations, witnesses said.

Some 1,000 opposition supporters gathered in Tehran's Haft e-Tir Square, witness reports said, despite an earlier statement from the Revolutionary Guards, an elite armed force, which said that demonstrations would be met with a tough response.

'There will be a decisive and revolutionary confrontation with with rioters and those not respecting the prevailing laws and distorting public order and security, and the relevant forces would show no hesitance to interfere,' the statement said.

Witness reports reaching the German Press Agency dpa said that a large security contingent, including the Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia, was present throughout the capital, and was stopping and questioning civilians.

According to Iranian state television channel PressTV only 200 demonstrators had turned up on the streets on Monday.

Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Miussavi said Sunday night that the people should continue protests but refrain from violence.

On Saturday severe clashes between protestors and security forces rocked Tehran, in which at least ten people died.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of Iran's Guardian Council rejected reports saying that the council had admitted to some irregularities in the disputed June 12 presidential election.

   Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei told the Iranian news agency IRNA that the violations were reported by the three losing candidates - Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei - and had not yet been acknowledged by the Guardian Council.

   IRNA, which has taken a pro-Ahmadinejad, accused some Western and Arabic media of distorting the council spokesman's remarks.