Iran police clash with protesters on mourning day

Source Agence France Presse

Riot police used tear gas and batons to break up a demonstration in Tehran and clashed with mourners at a defiant graveside commemoration for people killed in election violence, witnesses said. It was the first major violence between security forces and demonstrators in three weeks in Iran, where tensions are still running high over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June. Police moved in as crowds massed around a major open-air prayer venue in central Tehran and a major thoroughfare nearby, defying a ban on a planned opposition memorial ceremony, witnesses said. They used tear gas and batons against thousands of protesters on Vali Asr Street who were shouting "Death to the dictator!", "Free the political prisoners!" and slogans in support of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, they said.