Tehran, December 27: Four opposition supporters were reportedly shot dead in Tehran Sunday during the fiercest protests seen in Iran’s capital since the immediate aftermath of Junes hotly-disputed presidential election.
Despite the reports of violence, however, one opposition website, Jaras, claimed some police officers were refusing orders to shoot at protesters.
“Some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders,” it said.
Details of the shootings were sparse, but one of the dead was said to be an elderly man and another a young woman, both killed when the security forces opened fire on the huge crowds of protestors that had gathered in central Tehran for the emotionally-charged Shia holiday of Ashoura.
Two other demonstrators were reportedly wounded. The shootings of the protestors were the first since June 20.
Another opposition website, Rahesabz, said the security forces opened fire after failing to disperse the crowds with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air.
“Three of our compatriots were martyred and two were injured in clashes. The reporter who was on the scene said these three were directly shot at by military forces,” the website reported.
Rahesabz said that a fourth protester was later killed. “The people are carrying the body of this martyr and are shouting slogans,” it said.
Ashoura commemorates the seventh-century martyrdom of Imam Hossein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, at the hands of the Sunni caliph Yazid.
Today also marks the seventh day since the death of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, the opposition’s spiritual leader, which is an important day in Shia mourning tradition.
That coincidence served to heighten passions, and both sides appeared far more aggressive than in other demonstrations of recent months.
Thousands of government supporters staged counter-demonstrations.
The regime took down much of the mobile phone network, slowed internet services to a crawl and have banned most foreign journalists from Iran, making corroboration very difficult.
—Agencies