Anti-government protestors, police clash in Tehran (1st Lead)

Nov 4, 2009, 6:58 GMT

   Tehran - Police and protestors criticizing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government clashed Wednesday in Tehran as demonstrators shouted slogans such as 'Death to the dictator' and authorities responded with tear gas, witnesses said.

   The clashes occurred on a square near the US embassy, where the main state-organized anti-US rally is to be held Wednesday in observance of the Day of National Confrontation against World Imperialism.

   The day is marked on November 4 every year - the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Iran by Islamist students in support of the Iranian Revolution - with government-organized rallies across the nation.

   Supporters of the opposition - mainly members of the Green Movement, which backs opposition leader and this year's failed presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi - were also using the 30th anniversary to protest against Ahmadinejad.

   Iranian police and security were deployed a large numbers in downtown Tehran ahead of the anti-government protests.

   Volunteer pro-Ahmadinejad militia forces joined the government forces in deploying in alleys to confront the anti-government protestors, who were expected to number in the tens of thousands.

   Hundreds of Moussavi supporters had already gathered Wednesday morning in the square near the US embassy, wearing green masks, witnesses said.

   Moussavi, former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former president Mohammad Khatami were to attend Wednesday's protests.

   The foreign press is only allowed to cover the state-organized rally but not the protests.

   Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential election in June amid charges of fraud by the opposition. Subsequent demonstrations led to the arrests of 4,000 opposition supporters, of whom more than 100, including former reformist officials, remained in jail on charges of planning to topple the Islamic system.

   Estimates of the death toll from the earlier demonstrations vary from 30 to 79, with no official confirmation on any casualty figures.

   The opposition is led by the quartet of Moussavi, Karroubi, Khatami and another former president, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.