Tehran police clash with demonstrators

YouTube video purports to show the latest clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and police in the capital of Iran.

TEHRAN, IRAN (POSTED AS JULY 21, 2009) YOUTUBE - Story Iranian riot police clashed with hundreds of pro-reform protesters in central Tehran on Tuesday (July 21) and detained dozens of them, a witness said, in the latest unrest over last month's disputed election.
The witness said demonstrators were chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government, including: "Ahmadinejad -- resign, resign" and "Death to dictators".

The witness said police beat protesters who had gathered in Tehran's Haft-e Tir square in defiance of a ban on such demonstrations following the June 12 election, which the opposition says was rigged in favour of Ahmadinejad.

"Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they are taking them away," the witness said.

"There are hundreds of riot police and plainclothes (security forces), beating people who gathered to support (opposition leader Mirhossein) Mousavi," the witness said.

Video posted on YouTube shows police confronting shouting demonstrators.

The clash erupted four days after similar confrontations between police and protesters for the first time in weeks on Friday after former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis and said there were doubts about the election result. The authorities reject opposition charges of vote rigging.