Dozens hurt in Iran; even firmer hand vowed

Police and militia did try to bar people from entering Freedom Street, which runs from Freedom Square to Revolution Square, to prevent a mass gathering, witnesses said.

NBC News Iran bureau chief Ali Arouzi said he had never ever seen so many police on the streets at once.

Witnesses said between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to a hospital. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.

Nearby, Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia.

On the streets, witnesses said some protesters also shouted "Death to Khamenei!" — another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the authority of the successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution.

All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government reprisals. Iranian authorities have placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.

Mousavi, who served was prime minister during the 1980s, is not believed to seek the collapse of the Islamic system. But he claims that state powers were abused to skew the election results and re-elect Ahmadinejad in a landslide.

That stand has increasingly brought him and his supporters into direct confrontation with Iran's highest authorities.

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A statement on Mousavi's Web site said he and his supporters were not seeking to confront their "brothers" among Iran's security forces or the "sacred system" that preserves the country's freedom and independence.

"We are confronting deviations and lies. We seek to bring reform that returns us to the pure principals of the Islamic Republic," it said.

In a letter to Iran's Guardian Council, which investigates voting fraud allegations, Mousavi listed violations that he says are proof that the June 12 vote should be annulled. He said some ballot boxes had been sealed before voting began, thousands of his representatives had been expelled from polling stations and some mobile polling stations had ballot boxes filled with fake ballots.

Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad on Friday, saying the vote reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests.

A report on Press TV listed the fallout from the unrest, including 700 buildings and 300 banks damaged and 400 police hurt. It gave no similar list for the protesters. At least seven people have died, according to the official Iranian count, but the total could be more.

Mousavi's extremely slim hope of having the election results annulled rest with Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts. But Mousavi and another moderate candidate in the race, Mahdi Karroubi, did not appear at a meeting called to discuss their allegations of fraud, a council official told state TV.

The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.

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In a letter to the council, posted on one of Mousavi's Web site, he listed alleged violations that include his representatives being expelled from polling stations and fake ballots at some mobile polling stations.

The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.

But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.

"They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.

More on Iran

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