'They brutally attacked us': Iran protester
AFP
TEHRAN- Bruised and battered, a Tehran protester said Saturday that police and hardline Basij militiamen waged a "brutal" crackdown on demonstrators who marched in defiance of warnings against "illegal" rallies.
AFP cannot independently confirm witness accounts as foreign news outlets are banned from reporting on the protests triggered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.
"We started marching in the sidewalk from Enghelab Square around 4 pm and walked quietly for an hour in Azadi Avenue. People kept joining us on the way," the protester told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Lots of guards on motorbikes closed in on us and beat us brutally," the witness said, adding he was with at least 1,000 marchers who had defied a call by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to stop such street rallies.
"As we were running away the Basiji were waiting in side alleys with batons, but people opened their doors to us trapped in alleys."
When the protesters got some distance from the police and Basij, they started shouting "death to the dictator" and "People, why are you sitting down? Iran has become Palestine," the witness said.
"The passing cars honked their horns for us and passengers in buses waved."
Protesters, who mostly back defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, can usually be identified by their green wristbands and arms stretched up in the air showing a victory sign.
"Policemen told us drop your arms," the witness said. "A Basiji who did not beat people like others asked me 'why are you here? you don't look like a hooligan'.
"My head is filled with women's screams, and my body is aching," he said.
"But it could benefit the movement that they committed this savagery in broad daylight with everyone watching."
Another witness told AFP about hearing "shots."
"There was a lot of blood on the street. I think we can easily say that many have died or will die tonight. We saw badly wounded people being taken to Imam Khomeini hospital," the witness said.
Around Azadi (Freedom) Square, protesters and police were locked in clashes, witnesses said.
In some parts, iron railings along the street were torn down and the ground was covered with stones in roads close to the landmark square.
The protesters torched at least one makeshift police post and three buses on Satarkhan Avenue further north.
In front of the nearby Rasool Akram hospital, dozens of people gathered as a young man bearing knife wounds was brought in in the back of a pick-up.
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"Lots of guards on motorbikes closed in on us and beat us brutally," the witness said, adding he was with at least 1,000 marchers who had defied a call by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to stop such street rallies.
"As we were running away the Basiji were waiting in side alleys with batons, but people opened their doors to us trapped in alleys."
When the protesters got some distance from the police and Basij, they started shouting "death to the dictator" and "People, why are you sitting down? Iran has become Palestine," the witness said.
"The passing cars honked their horns for us and passengers in buses waved."
Protesters, who mostly back defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, can usually be identified by their green wristbands and arms stretched up in the air showing a victory sign.
"Policemen told us drop your arms," the witness said. "A Basiji who did not beat people like others asked me 'why are you here? you don't look like a hooligan'.
"My head is filled with women's screams, and my body is aching," he said.
"But it could benefit the movement that they committed this savagery in broad daylight with everyone watching."
Another witness told AFP about hearing "shots."
"There was a lot of blood on the street. I think we can easily say that many have died or will die tonight. We saw badly wounded people being taken to Imam Khomeini hospital," the witness said.
Around Azadi (Freedom) Square, protesters and police were locked in clashes, witnesses said.
In some parts, iron railings along the street were torn down and the ground was covered with stones in roads close to the landmark square.
The protesters torched at least one makeshift police post and three buses on Satarkhan Avenue further north.
In front of the nearby Rasool Akram hospital, dozens of people gathered as a young man bearing knife wounds was brought in in the back of a pick-up.
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