Iran's Mousavi urges more protests, gunfire heard [View All]

[TomClash]

Source: Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged his supporters on Sunday to continue their protests over a disputed presidential election, in a direct challenge to the leadership of the Islamic Republic. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Helicopters buzzed through the evening sky over Tehran and gunfire was heard in northern Tehran, a bastion of support for the reformist former prime minister.

"Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your (Iranians) right," Mousavi said in a statement on his website.

"In your protests continue to show restraint. I am expecting armed forces to avoid irreversible damage," he added.

At least 10 people were killed in a crack down on protests on Saturday and Mousavi said the deaths, and the mass arrest of his supporters, would "create a rift between society and the country's armed forces."

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GUNFIRE

In pro-Mousavi districts of northern Tehran, supporters took to the rooftops after dusk to chant their defiance, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"I heard repeated shootings while people were chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) in Niavaran area," said a witness, who asked not to be named.

Another witness heard shooting in Zaferaniyeh district in the north of the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55F54520090621