Tehran, February 11: Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered Thursday at a Tehran square to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution amid tight security and reports of opposition protesters massing on the streets.
State television showed footage of men, women and children carrying banners reading “Death to America, Death to Israel!” crowded into Azadi (Freedom) Square in southwest Tehran to mark the day the US-backed dictator the shah was toppled in 1979.
“The 22 of Bahman (February 11) is the symbol of Iranian unity,” said state television as it reported that a million Iranians had gathered at Azadi Square.
Opposition website Rahesabz reported that thousands of anti-government protesters were also in the streets of Tehran. There was no independent confirmation as the foreign media has been banned from covering street marches.
Celebrations to mark the day the shah was toppled have been traditionally festive, and an opportunity for Iranian leaders to showcase popular support for the establishment.
But this year, opposition groups — led by some of the founding fathers of the Islamic republic — look set to hijack the national day as they continue to reject the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government.
The elite Revolutionary Guards and police have warned they will crack down heavily on any protests which.
“If anyone wants to disrupt this glorious ceremony, they will be confronted by people and we too are fully prepared,” police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam warned on Wednesday.
Several people who had been planning to protest are already in custody, he added.
Iran’s all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he wants Thursday’s celebration to be a show of unity and to deliver a stunning “punch” to “arrogant” powers.
Khamenei — the commander-in-chief who has the final say on all key national issues — has openly sided with Ahmadinejad, dismissed allegations of fraud in the election, blamed the US for the post-poll unrest and slammed continuing dissent as “sedition”.
The opposition is led by former stalwarts of the Islamic republic, including one-time premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the 1979 revolution failed because the shah-era “roots of tyranny and dictatorship” still exist.
Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the other main opposition leader, have urged a mass turnout by their supporters in what is known as the “Green Movement,” but also urged them to show restraint.
“I feel we have to participate while maintaining the collective spirit as well as our identity and leave an impression,” Mousavi said on Monday. “Anger and bitterness should not take our control away.”
Karroubi’s son Hossein said that his father would be participating in the annual march on Thursday but his “mother was contacted and told not to allow him (Karroubi) to go out.”.
Iranian opposition leaders Khatami and Karroubi were attacked in their cars during the marches Thursday, an opposition website and Karroubi’s son said.
The website, Rahesabz, also reported that ex-president Khatami’s brother Mohammad Reza and his wife were arrested by security forces.
Karroubi’s son Hossein said that his father was “not injured but his guards who were accompanying him were.”
“They (police and plainclothes men) fired tear gas and were brandishing knives when they clashed with our supporters” before the cleric reached western Tehran’s Sadeghieh square from where he was supposed to join the marches.
Karroubi’s other son Ali was also arrested, Hossein said.
Ahead of the anniversary, Internet connections slowed to a crawl and text messaging services were disrupted, with the government blaming technical glitches.
The United States meanwhile imposed new sanctions on Iran’s all-powerful Revolutionary Guard, ordering a freeze on assets of an individual and four firms linked to the unit.
—Agencies