Thousands of protesters streamed down avenues of the capital Thursday, chanting "death to the dictator" and defying security forces who fired tear gas and charged with batons, witnesses said.
Turning garbage bins into burning barricades and darting through choking clouds of tear gas, the opposition made its first foray into the streets in nearly two weeks in an attempt to revive mass demonstrations that were crushed in Iran's postelection turmoil.
Iranian authorities had promised tough action to prevent the marches, which supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been planning for days through the Internet. Heavy police forces deployed at key points in the city ahead of the marches, and Tehran's governor vowed to "smash" anyone who heeded the demonstration calls.
In some places, police struck hard. Security forces chased after protesters, beating them with clubs on Valiasr Street, Tehran's biggest north-south avenue, witnesses said.
Whether this is happening outside Tehran, I don't know. I've read rumors, but nothing that satisfies me it is more than hopeful rumor.
The protesters certainly aren't completely discouraged by the regime's intimidation and bloodshed, but they do not show the strength necessary to bring down the regime.
It seems that hope for basic changes in Iran's government still must be placed on fallout from the regime power struggle that appears to be taking place.
But where there is life, there is hope.
