Excerpt
Violence and acrimony over Iran’s disputed election intensified on Sunday, with word spreading that more than 100 prominent opposition members had been detained, riots erupting in Tehran and other cities, and the triumphant incumbent hinting that his top challenger risks punishment for questioning the result.
Two of the three opposition candidates and a clerical group issued fresh statements requesting an annulment of the election on Friday, which gave a lopsided victory to the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative who has become a polarizing figure at home and abroad. They did so despite a decree from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the outcome was fair.
It was unclear how far Mr. Ahmadinejad’s adversaries were willing or able to go in challenging the result. But supporters of the opposition candidates skirmished with baton-wielding riot police officers on the edges of a government-organized victory rally in Tehran. There were also reports of riots in other Iranian cities, and the protests were echoed by Iranians demonstrating against the election results in Washington and in several European capitals.
Mr. Ahmadinejad dismissed the opposition’s allegations of fraud, saying that the victory had given him a bigger mandate than ever. He criticized Mir Hussein Moussavi, the main opposition candidate — who remained at home on Sunday with security forces closely monitoring his movements — in a veiled statement that many here saw as a threat.
“He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said of his rival during a news conference at the presidential palace.
Those resisting the election results gained a potentially important new ally on Sunday when a moderate clerical body, the Association of Combatant Clergy, issued a statement posted on reformist Web sites saying that the vote was rigged and calling for it to be annulled. The statement warned that “if this process becomes the norm, the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system.”
Needless to say, this is makes the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions even more troublesome.
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"Iranian protesters contest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection" by Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times
Excerpt
Massive rivers of people defied authorities and poured into Tehran's Freedom Square today chanting "Death to the dictator!" and "We want our vote back!" in an unprecedented display of civil disobedience and a rebuke to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reelected president over the weekend amid allegations of rampant voter fraud.
The protesters defied Interior Ministry warnings broadcast on state television and radio that anyone showing up would be beaten or worse. They managed to find out about the event and turned out in droves despite a media clampdown that included the shuttering of numerous opposition websites -- including those linking to challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi -- the jamming of satellite news channels and the shutdown of text-messaging systems.
As night fell, the Associated Press reported gunfire from a pro-government militia base next to the demonstration that killed one and injured others.
Generally, the event appeared peaceful. In the crowd, women in flowing black chadors mingled with factory owners. College students wearing the headbands and ribbons of green, the color of the Mousavi campaign, walked side by side with government employees with salt-and-pepper hair. Bazaar laborers in black T-shirts and motorcycle deliverymen waved their hands in the air alongside elegantly coiffed women in designer sunglasses.
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