TEHRAN: Security forces shot dead four protesters in Tehran today and injured and arrested others in a crackdown on vast crowds of opposition supporters who turned a Shiite mourning event into a mass protest, a website and witnesses said.

The clashes, which followed sporadic skirmishes on Saturday, marked the bloodiest showdown between protesters and security forces since the height of unrest in June which broke out after disputed presidential elections.

Police denied, however, that anyone had died in the clashes, which witnesses said came as tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Tehran for a second straight day to use Ashura rituals to stage protests.

Witnesses said police had first used batons and tear gas in the crackdown, which followed stern warnings by the authorities that they would crush attempts to use the annual solemn Ashura processions as a launchpad for demonstrations.

When this failed to disperse the crowds, they opened fire, websites said.

“Three of our compatriots were martyred and two were injured in clashes. The (website) reporter who was on the scene said these three were directly shot at by military forces,” opposition website Rahesabz.net said.

It said the clashes took place near College bridge in the middle of main Enghelab street.

Rahesabz said a fourth protester was also killed near Vali Asr intersection on Enghelab.

“The people are carrying the body of this martyr and are shouting slogans,” it said citing eyewitnesses.

Police, however, denied that protesters were killed in the clashes but said a number of policemen were injured.

“So far police have not received any reports of people killed and nobody has been killed,” Tehran metropolitan police chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh told the ISNA news agency.

“Police have not opened fire in Tehran and the policemen on duty did not carry any assault weapons,” he said.

Rajabzadeh said police had made arrests in the protests but did not elaborate.

AFP was not able to verify the allegations of protesters killed as the foreign media is banned from covering opposition demonstrations.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni addressed people.

Islamist vigilantes wielding batons and chains also broke into the mosque and attacked people, interrupting a speech by reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, pro-reform website Salaamnews said.

Mousavi’s nephew killed

TEHRAN: The nephew of Iran opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was killed during protests in Tehran on Sunday, a reformist website reported. “Today at noon Seyed Ali Mousavi, the 35-year-old nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi, was shot near his heart at Enghelab square and was martyred after he was taken to Ebnesina hospital,” Parlemannews said. “At the moment, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the parents of this martyr of the Green Movement and some political figures are at hospital,” said the website, which is run by the parliament’s minority reformist faction which backs the opposition. — AFP