Iranian security forces and paramilitary groups clashed with anti-government protesters in central Tehran on Monday, witnesses said, wielding batons, firing tear gas and stunning people with electrical batons to disperse crowds outside Tehran University.
Although security forces arrested dozens of demonstrators, crowds on the streets appeared to be growing, witnesses said. Roads were being blocked by security forces, preventing cars from entering the center of town.
Authorities cracked down on the “Student Day” demonstrations by warning ahead of time that such gatherings would be considered illegal and met by force. Thousands of demonstrators tried to meet up with students at sealed-off campuses of Tehran’s main universities, but faced hundreds of riot police, Revolutionary Guard Corps forces and members of the Basij, a voluntary paramilitary arm of the Revolutionary Guards.
“I saw three middle-aged women being shocked by members of the Basij using stun guns,” a witness said in a phone call from a street near the university. “I ran away, but when I turned around I saw them lying on the street, their bodies shaking because of the shocks,” he said. As he spoke, people could be heard screaming in the background.
…The crackdown appeared to limit the number of protesters Monday, but several opposition Web sites said more demonstrations were planned during the upcoming 10-day Shiite religious festival of Ashura, which starts Dec. 18 and peaks on Dec. 27 in a commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, who was killed in battle in the 7th century.
