Police Deploy in Tehran to Head Off Demos

Iranian police and security forces deployed in several areas of Tehran on Tuesday, residents said, to head off any demonstration marking the anniversary of an opposition protest that resulted in two deaths and many arrests.

The forces transported by car, bus and motorbike, many in riot gear, took up positions on key squares and streets in the city, the residents said on condition of anonymity.

Foreign media were not permitted by authorities to move about the city to observe the deployment or to verify if any protesters were gathering.

Opposition website Kalame.com, however, said some "silent" protests were held, but gave few details.

The boosted security presence came after a call circulated on opposition web sites for a "Green Movement" demonstration on Tuesday.

It was not clear, however, who was behind the call. The two main Green Movement opposition leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, have been under house arrest since last year's protest, with no means of communication.

Iran's chief prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, warned on Monday that "any person or group seeking to carry out acts against national security and interests will be dealt with," the official IRNA news agency reported.

The governor of Tehran province, Morteza Tamaddon, last week dismissed the protest call as "a propaganda gesture by the anti-revolutionary opposition," according to the Young Journalist Club, a group affiliated to Iranian state television.

Tamaddon said the call was aimed at undermining Iran's March 2 legislative elections, but he warned: "We are completely ready and we have all the security equipment needed in Tehran to confront such events."

The February 14, 2011 demonstration in Tehran was a display of anger by the opposition and thousands of supporters who believed they were cheated in the 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in what they saw as a rigged vote.

Mousavi and Karroubi had called the demonstration in support of Arab uprisings across the region.

The European Union, through the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, on Tuesday issued a statement calling for the release of Mousavi and Karroubi.

Rights group Amnesty International has said a block on Internet sites this week was an apparent attempt to disrupt planned protests.