Tehran opposition takes to streets

Hard-liners have attacked senior pro-reform leaders in the streets of Tehran as tens of thousands marched in competing mass demonstrations organised by opposition and government supporters.

Opposition protesters, chanting “death to the dictator”, hurled stones and bricks in clashes with security forces firing tear gas.

The opposition held its first major street protests since mid-July, bringing out thousands in demonstrations in several parts of the capital. In some cases only several blocks away, tens of thousands marched in government-sponsored rallies marking an annual anti-Israel commemoration.