Demonstrators set fire to banks and government buildings, including local headquarters of the feared basij militia, and there were reports that some police officers were refusing orders to shoot into the crowds.
Opposition groups said at least nine people were killed as the basij and other regime forces used gunfire and tear gas in an unsuccessful attempt to clear away crowds of people chanting slogans. Cars and motorbikes were overturned and set on fire, and barricades built.
Videos and photographs posted online and emailed abroad by opposition groups showed scenes of intense conflict. One was of an alleged shooting victim, a young protester who was being comforted on the ground on Keshavarz Boulevard, with blood pouring from his head.
According to the Jaras website, those around him were shouting: “We will kill those who killed our brothers.”
Another of the five victims in Tehran was an elderly man, who also received gunshot wounds to the head.
Among those killed was the nephew of Mir Hossein Moussavi, the pro-reform former prime minister whose defeat in presidential elections by the hardline incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, triggered weeks of protests in June.
A website said Ali Habibi Moussavi was shot in the chest during clashes in Enghelab square “and was martyred after he was taken to Ebnesina hospital.”
“At the moment, Mir Hossein Moussavi, the parents of this martyr of the Green Movement and some political figures a… >>>
