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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (488153)	6/15/2009 2:50:51 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575551

Protestor 'shot dead' at mass anti-Ahmadinejad rally TEHRAN (AFP) - A protestor was reportedly shot dead during clashes in Tehran on Monday as massive crowds of people defied a ban to stage a rally against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A local photographer said the protestor had been shot with a bullet to the head and that more were wounded when violence erupted outside a local base of the Islamic Basji militia, which had been set ablaze. People were seen fleeing the area as police fired tear gas on protestors who set motorbikes, tyres and dustbins ablaze, an AFP correspondent said, as huge clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky. The violence flared after Ahmadinejad's defeated rival Mir Hossein Mousavi appeared in public for the first time since an election that has sharply divided the nation and triggered a wave of protests and rioting. Iran, battling one of its worst crises since the Islamic revolution three decades ago, faced a growing international backlash over the validity of Friday's election and the subsequent crackdown on opposition protests. "God willing, we will take back our rights," Mousavi shouted from the roof of a car amid a sea of hundreds of thousand of Iranians, young and old, who packed into central Tehran despite the authorities ordering a ban on the rally. The White House voiced its concern about the vote, while the State Department said it was "deeply troubled" by the violence and UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for the will of the Iranian people to be "fully respected." Witnesses in Tehran said the clashes erupted at the end of the rally when armed men in plain clothes who did not appear to belong to the police started shooting at people. If the death is confirmed, it would be the first since the violence erupted, the worst in Iran since students demonstrations in 1999 triggered a week of unrest across the nation. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a probe into allegations of vote-rigging after Ahmadinejad was returned power in a landslide, an election that dented Western hopes of a change in domestic and foreign policy of the oil-rich nation. State television said Khamenei -- the all-powerful spiritual leader of the Islamic republic since 1989 -- had told Mousavi he had instructed the Guardians Council supervisory body "to precisely examine" his complaints. Mousavi, 67, lodged a formal appeal on Sunday for the cancellation of the results of what he charges was a rigged "charade." A spokesman for the 12-member Guardians Council said it would announce its decision in 10 days. "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person," Mousavi told the crowds on Monday. Demonstrators, some wearing the green of Mousavi's campaign colour, swarmed into central Tehran as riot police looked on. One policeman said between 1.5 million and two million people had turned out. European governments complained about the tactics used against protestors and added their voices to US doubt over the election outcome, with the EU calling on Tehran to launch a probe into the results. "The regime must address the serious questions which have been asked about the conduct of the Iranian elections," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. Monday's demonstration comes a day after the combative Ahmadinejad himself addressed a vast victory rally in Tehran to defend the results, saying the people of Iran had triumphed against the "world arrogance" (the West). The authorities have warned that they would crush any "velvet revolution" in Iran and police said on Sunday they had rounded up 170 people over the protests, including a number of reformist leaders. On Saturday, Tehran witnessed widespread clashes between riot police who clubbed and tear-gassed stone-throwing protestors who set bins and vehicles on fire in violence on a scale not seen in a decade. The Iranian authorities have also cracked down on local and foreign media, with Mousavi's own newspaper reportedly suspended and international outlets reporting the arrest and harassment of their journalists. Telephone and Internet services have also been disrupted. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the action of the security forces as "completely unacceptable," while French President Nicolas Sarkozy he wanted "full light" to be shed on the vote. US Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday there was "an awful lot of doubt" about the vote, but nevertheless reiterated Washington's willingness to engage in talks after three decades of severed ties. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose country Ahmadinejad has said should be wiped off the map, said during a visit to France that his return to power was "bad news." Ahmadinejad's first term in office had already set Iran on a collision course with the international community over its nuclear drive, his anti-Israeli tirades and restrictions on society. Amid the turmoil, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Tehran to take up the US offer of dialogue over its disputed nuclear programme, which the West fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons. Iranian analysts have warned that the disputed nature of Ahmadinejad's victory could weaken Iran from within and isolate it further from the outside world. "The perception of many Iranians that their vote was not taken into consideration will weigh heavily on the legitimacy of future elections," said Tehran-based analyst Sayeed Laylaz. ca.news.yahoo.com