TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Baton-wielding Iranian police fired tear gas yesterday and arrested protesters mourning the young woman killed in post-election violence who has become a symbol for the opposition to Tehran’s hardline leaders.
The renewed protests show the opposition refuses to be quelled or accept the June 12 hardline election victory despite a security crackdown, the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators and repeated calls from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The clashes erupted after hundreds of supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi gathered to mourn Neda Agha-Soltan, whose death on June 20 was captured on video and has been seen by hundreds of thousands on the Internet.
At least 300 mourners were at a ceremony for the 26-year-old music student at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, greeting the opposition leader with chants of “Mousavi we support you” and clinging to his car as he arrived, a witness said.
But police forced Mousavi to return to his car and leave.
Many hundreds later tried to move toward the Grand Mosala, a large prayer venue in central Tehran. But police were out in force outside the Mosala, having rejected a request by opposition leaders to hold a memorial ceremony there.
