TEHRAN, Iran — Thousands of protesters defied Iran’s highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons as the crisis over disputed elections lurched into volatile new ground.
In a separate incident, a state-run television channel reported that a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least two people and wounded eight. The report could be not independently evaluated due to government restrictions on journalists.
Some bloggers and Twitter users claimed that there had been numerous fatalities in Saturday’s unrest, reports that could not be immediately verified.
The protest movement claims that widespread fraud in June 12 elections robbed opposition leader Mir Hossein of victory and kept hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office.
Mousavi bewildered many followers by not directly replying to the ultimatum issued Friday by Iran’s most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His stern order to Mousavi and others: Call off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for “bloodshed, violence and rioting.”
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become “exhausting, bothersome and intolerable.” He threatened a more “serious confrontation” if protesters return.
Mousavi’s silence was broken after the melee with another call to annul the election results. But there was no mention of the clashes — suggesting he wants to distance himself from the violence and possibly opening the door for more militant factions to break away.
Witnesses said between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten Saturday by police and pro-government militia and taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in central Tehran. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.
Witnesses said some protesters also shouted “Death to Khamenei!” — another sign of once-unthinkable challenges to the supreme leader.
Amateur video showed clashes erupting in Shiraz and witnesses reported street violence in Isfahan.
Other footage showed blood pouring from a young woman’s nose and mouth as frantic people tried to help her. Two separate videos of the incident, each shot from a different angle, were uploaded onto the social networking sites Facebook and YouTube. The YouTube video described the location of the incident as Tehran and said the woman had been fatally shot.
The Associated Press could not verify the content of the video or the date it was shot.
“I think the regime has taken an enormous risk in confronting this situation in the manner that they have,” said Mehrdad Khonsari, consultant to the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies.
“Now they’ll have to hold their ground and hope that people don’t keep coming back,” he added. “But history has taught us that people in these situations lose their initial sense of fear and become emboldened by brutality.”
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