Iran: Security forces break up protests

TEHRAN - Security forces dispersed opposition protests as hundreds of thousands of government supporters massed last night (NZ time) in a central square of the Iranian capital to mark the 31st anniversary of the revolution that created the Islamic republic.

Authorities clamped down hard to prevent a major show of force by the opposition amid one of the country's most important political occasions.

Tehran residents also reported internet speeds dropping dramatically and email services, such as Gmail, being blocked in a common government tactic to foil opposition attempts to organise.

Dozens of hardliners with batons and pepper spray attacked the convoy of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, as he tried to join the anti-government protests, his son Hossein Karroubi told the Associated Press.

The attackers - believed to be members of the Basij civilian militia - damaged several cars and smashed windows on Karrobi's car, though he escaped unharmed, he said.

Security forces also briefly detained the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and her husband, who are both senior pro-reform politicians, the opposition website Rahesabz reported.

It was one of the most high-profile detentions in the crackdown by authorities. The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for about an hour before being released, the site said.

The report could not be independently confirmed, but the site has been credible in the past.

The anniversary celebrations were an opportunity for Iran's clerical regime to tout its power in the face of the opposition movement, which has persisted in holding mass street protests since disputed presidential elections in June despite months of a fierce security crackdown.

In the revolution celebrations, state television showed images of thousands upon thousands carrying often identical banners marching along the city's broad avenues towards the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square, to listen to a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad announced in his address that the Islamic republic had produced its first package of highly enriched uranium just two days after beginning the process, proclaiming that Iran was now a "nuclear state".

"The first package of 20 per cent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said, without specifying how much uranium had been enriched.

Iran announced on Wednesday that it was starting for the first time to further enrich uranium from around 3 per cent purity to 20 per cent purity, bringing sharp criticism from the United States and its allies, which accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.

Tehran, which denies seeking to build a bomb, has said it wants to further enrich the uranium - which is still substantially below the 90 per cent plus level needed for a weapon - to fuel a research reactor for medical isotopes.

For days ahead of the celebrations, anti-government websites and blogs had called for a major turnout in counterprotests and urged marches to display green emblems or clothes, the signature colour of the opposition.

Opposition websites reported that protesters gathered in several places in Tehran yesterday, displaying green banners and shouting slogans, but their numbers were not immediately clear.

Witnesses said police deployed strong forces in central Tehran to confront them.

Riot police fired paint-filled balls after several hundred protesters began to chant opposition slogans in Sadeqieh Square, about 800m from the huge pro-government gathering, witnesses said.

Witnesses said there were no apparent injuries among the protesters.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from authorities.

Foreign media were allowed to cover only the ceremonies in the square and the speech by Ahmadinejad, with photographers bussed to the site and then away.

There is an explicit ban on covering opposition protests.

- AP