Rival rallies as partial recount announced

SUPPORTERS of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and defeated challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi staged rival rallies yesterday, while the clerical regime said it would recount some disputed ballots from the presidential election.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Iranians to unite behind the cleric-led ruling system despite the rival demonstrations and street clashes, state television reported, and he said representatives of all four candidates should be present for any limited recount of disputed ballots.

“In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic,” said Khamenei, who is Iran’s ultimate authority.

Thousands of supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi marched about the same time – but in a different location – as a state-organised rally that also drew thousands of people waving flags and pictures of Iran’s Supreme Leader in an apparent attempt to reclaim the streets for the government.

Following a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters on Monday, the regime issued tough restrictions on journalists, barring foreign media from covering rallies in Tehran.

Witnesses and amateur video showed a large column of Mousavi supporters walking peacefully along a central avenue in north Tehran.

A witness said the pro- Mousavi rally stretched more than a mile (1.5km) along Vali Asr Avenue, from Vanak Square to the headquarters of Iranian state television.

Security forces did not interfere, the witness said, and the protest lasted from about 5pm to 8pm. Other witnesses said about 100 people were still protesting in front of state TV around 9.45pm.

A correspondent for state- controlled Press TV said the crowd carried banners of Mousavi, wore green headbands and covered their mouths in an apparent defence against tear gas.

The clerical government appears to be trying to defuse popular anger and quash unrest by announcing the limited recount even as it cracks down on foreign media and calls supporters to the streets.

“This nation will protect and defend its revolution in any way,” Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a prominent lawmaker and supporter of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the pro- government crowd in Vali Asr Square.

Iranian state media said the government organised the rally to demand punishment for those who protested violently after Monday’s rally. Mousavi has said he won Friday’s balloting and has demanded the government annul Ahmadinejad’s victory and conduct a new election.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the disputed election revealed a change in expectations among voters and perhaps their leaders.

“I do believe that something has happened in Iran,” with Iranians more willing to question the government’s “antagonistic postures” toward the world, Obama said. “There are people who want to see greater openness, greater debate, greater democracy.”

Iran’s state radio said seven people were killed in clashes from Monday’s protest, the first official confirmation of such deaths.

Mousavi supporters had called for demonstrations yesterday but Mousavi said he would not be attending any rally and asked his supporters to “not fall in the trap of street riots” and “exercise self-restraint”.

Ahmadinejad travelled to Russia yesterday after delaying a trip for a day but did not mention the Iranian election or unrest.

“America is enveloped in economic and political crises, and there is no hope for their resolution,” he said through an interpreter. “Allies of the United States are not capable of easing these crises.”

Foreign reporters in Iran to cover last week’s elections began leaving the country yesterday after Iranian officials said they would not extend their visas.

Authorities restricted other journalists, including Iranians working for foreign media, from reporting on the streets.

At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, “and we are very worried about them, we don’t know where they have been detained”, Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders said.