Iran protests see 10 deaths
AT LEAST 10 people died and 100 have been injured in Iran’s most violent weekend of unrest since the shah was overthrown 30 years ago.
An uneasy calm settled over Iran yesterday after Saturday’s bloody demonstrations against the contested 12 June election.
The clashes saw demonstrators waging pitched battles in Tehran against police armed with truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.
The death toll is now reported as 17 since resistance began against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s regime is continuing its news blackout, with 23 journalists arrested in the last week, and most reports coming from state news sources or YouTube.
Iranian officials have also arrested Faezeh Hashemi, the eldest daughter of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, plus at least four other family members.
Meanwhile Iran has accused Britain, France and Germany of meddling in Iran’s affairs.
Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Britain had flown intelligence agents into Iran before voting, a claim fiercely denied by foreign secretary David Miliband yesterday.