Monday 15 June, 2009. Clashes erupt for 2nd day over disputed election in Iran

Monday 15 June, 2009.

Protesters set fires and smashed store windows on Sunday in a second day of violence as groups challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election tried to keep pressure on authorities.   Anti-riot police lashed back and the regime blocked Internet sites used to rally the pro-reform campaign.   Ahmadinejad dismissed the unrest - the worst in the decade in Tehran - as "not important" and insisted the results showing his landslide victory in Friday's vote were fair and legitimate.      Along Tehran's Vali Asr street - where activists supporting rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi held a huge pre-election rally last week - tens of thousands marched in support of Ahmadinejad, waving Iranian flags and shouting his name.      The violence spilling from the disputed results has pushed Iran's Islamic establishment to respond with sweeping measures that include deploying anti-riot squads around the capital and cutting mobile phone messaging and Internet sites used by the Mousavi's campaign.      There's little chance that the youth-driven movement could immediately threaten the pillars of power in Iran – the ruling clerics and the vast network of military and intelligence forces at their command - but it raises the possibility that a sustained and growing backlash could complicate Iran's policies at a pivotal time.   So far, Mousavi has issued mixed signals through his Web site before it was shut down. He urged for calm but also said he is the legitimate winner of Friday's election and called on supporters to reject a government of "lies and dictatorship."   He has not been seen in public since a news conference shortly after polls closed.      In a second day of clashes, scores of young people shouted "Death to the dictator!" and broke the windows of city buses on several streets in central Tehran. They have burned banks, trash bins and piles of tires used as flaming barricades to block police.      Riot police beat some of the protesters with batons while dozens of others holding shields and motorcycles stood guard nearby. (AKs-14/06)   Iran's Mousavi calls on supporters to avoid violence   Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has asked his supporters to avoid violence after they launched mass protests in Tehran against his loss in the election.   Mousavi, who lost to incumbent hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said "the violations in the election are very serious and you are right to be deeply hurt."   "But I firmly call on you not to subject any individual or groups to hurt. Do not lose your calm and restraint. Everybody should draw a line between themselves and any violent behaviour," Mousavi said in a statement posted on his campaign website. He said he hoped the police understood why his supporters were protesting and would "treat them as their own." Thousands of Mousavi supporters took to Tehran's streets on Saturday to protest against the victory of Ahmadinejad who recorded a landslide win to secure a second term in office.   Khatami's clerical group urges anulling Iran poll results   The clerical group of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami called for a re-staging of the presidential vote which saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerge victorious.   The Combatant Clerics' Assembly, whose members comprise reformist and moderate clerics, expressed concern at a "massive engineering of votes" in Friday's election echoing comments by Ahmadinejad's main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. "The assembly concludes that annulling this election and repeating the vote in a fairer and more logical atmosphere is the right way to retrieve public trust and sustain the national reconciliation with voting," it said in a statement. Khatami passionately promoted ex-premier Mousavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad by a substantial margin and later blamed "vote rigging" for his defeat. Mousavi also warned that the alleged violations would lead Iran to "tyranny."