Tehran, July 31: Iranian police arrested 50 people after breaking up demonstrations commemorating the victims of the country’s post- election clashes, the semi-official news agency ILNA reported on Friday.
Police and security forces on Thursday broke up memorial services in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran and other districts in the capital city that were held to remember those killed in demonstrations against alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election.
“About 50 of the participants of yesterday’s gatherings were arrested, but most of them were released shortly after the arrest,” Tehran’s police commander Azizollah Rajabzadeh was quoted as saying by the agency.
Authorities last week rejected a request by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi to hold an official mourning ceremony in Tehran’s prayer venue Mosalla Square in downtown Tehran.
Despite the ban, hundreds of mourners gathered around the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, who died during last month’s protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Thousands of other mourners and protestors gathered around the Mossalah venue and several districts in central Tehran but were dispersed by the police and security forces.
Neda Agha-Soltan was shot on an open street in Tehran on June 20, and her death became symbolic of the protest movement in Iran and also prompted a wave of international protests after internet images of the 27-year-old’s death were shown around the world.
Official figures have put the number killed in recent demonstrations at 20, although an MP later stated that the number was 30.
–Agencies