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Opposition Web Sites: 4 Iranian Activists Killed in Clashes With Security
Forces

   Killing  comes  as  thousands  of reformists rally in central Tehran's
   Engelab Square in defiance of police warnings

   VOA News 27 December 2009

   Iranian  opposition  Web sites say four opposition activists have been
   killed in a second day of clashes with security forces in the capital,
   Tehran.
   The  opposition  groups  say the four protesters were killed Sunday as
   thousands  of reformists rallied in central Tehran's Engelab Square in
   defiance of police warnings.
   Witnesses  say  demonstrators  chanted  "death  to  the  dictator" - a
   reference  to  Iran's  conservative leadership.  They say police fired
   tear gas and used batons to disperse the protesters.
   Iranian reformists have been staging regular mass protests against the
   disputed   June   re-election   of   conservative   President  Mahmoud
   Ahmadinejad.  Iran's opposition says the vote was rigged, a charge the
   government denies.
   Iranian  police  chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam had warned the opposition
   against  holding  rallies Sunday to coincide with national observances
   of Ashura, a Shi'ite Muslim festival.
   On   Saturday,  Iranian  police  used  tear  gas  and  batons  against
   demonstrators  who  gathered  at a north Tehran mosque where reformist
   former President Mohammad Khatami was giving a speech.
   A  reformist  Web  site said pro-government activists tried to disrupt
   the  event.   Video  showed  outsiders entering the mosque amid shouts
   from  those  inside.  Opposition groups also said security forces beat
   up and arrested protesters in central Tehran Saturday.
   During  Ashura,  Shi'ite worshippers mourn the seventh-century killing
   of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
   Last  Monday,  hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral of
   dissident  cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the city of
   Qom and used the occasion to chant anti-government slogans.
   Iranian  authorities  cracked down on protesters at the funeral and at
   subsequent opposition rallies.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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