One person shot dead in Tehran demonstrations

[News_Editor]

One person shot dead in Tehran demonstrations

2011-02-21 00:37:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) -- One person was killed after security forces opened fire on protesters on Sunday in Tehran, opposition websites reported.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowds in the capital after demonstrators gathered in different locations to mark the death of two protesters killed during last week's protests and denounce the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The semi-official Fars News Agency, however, reported that the protests, called by opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, failed to attract supporters. It said that according to official and unofficial reports "calm remained undisturbed and intact in the city."

Moussavi and Karroubi are under de facto house arrest and all their communication means are reportedly cut.

A senior Iranian legislator warned this morning that there was a plot to start unrests in Tehran this afternoon in a bid to open fire on the civilians to make the police and security forces reciprocate their gunfire, the news agency reported.

Official news agency IRNA reported that Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was arrested at the demonstrations. The former legislator has been arrested several times since the opposition movement protests erupted in 2009.

Last Monday, two protesters were killed when thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "directly" supported the protests, describing the Iranian regime as "hypocritical."

"What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people. They deserve to have the same rights that they saw being played out in Egypt and that are part of their own birthright. There had to be change in the Arab world," Clinton said.

Iran responded by urging the United States to not interfere in its regional affairs. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast added that the Islamic nation will not listen to governments which have "a dark history in human rights violations."

According to Iranian authorities, the Monday protests were a response organized by the sedition leaders and foreign countries such as the United States, Israel, and the U.K. to overshadow the high turnout of the people during the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

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