Iranian police have fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators who defied government warnings that any fresh attempt at protests would be "smashed".
The marchers were heading towards Tehran University to commemorate the 10th anniversary of student unrest.
All gatherings have been banned in a crackdown on mass protests that erupted after the disputed election of 12 June.
The BBC's Jon Leyne says the opposition is trying to put momentum back into the campaign against the vote result.
Website campaign
Our correspondent says there were also a number of smaller demonstrations in other Iranian cities.
They were organised to mark the anniversary of protests in 1999 between pro-reform activists and the loyalist Basij militia.
Small student-led groups have commemorated the event every year since then.
According to AFP news agency, between 200-300 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator".
A witness told Reuters news agency the marchers had also shouted in favour of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says last month's vote was rigged.
But the numbers of people involved appear to have been a fraction of the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets last month.
Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential election by a landslide.
'Smashed'
Plans for the rally had circulated for days on social media and opposition websites.
There has not been a major protest for nearly two weeks and Tehran Governor Morteza Tamaddon warned earlier no more would be tolerated.
He said: "If some individuals plan to have anti-security move through listening to a call by counter-revolutionary networks, they will be smashed under the feet of our aware people," reported state news agency Irna.
According to AP news agency in Iran, mobile phone text messaging services were down for a third day on Thursday.
A similar cut-off took place after the election, in a move thought to have been aimed at thwarting protest organisers.
In a separate development, another member of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi's rights group was reportedly arrested in Tehran on Wednesday.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah is said to have provided legal representation for some of the hundreds of people detained since the election.
Abdolfatah Soltani, also a lawyer and member of Ms Ebadi's Human Rights Defenders' Centre, was detained last month.
No comments:
Post a Comment