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Mousavi on a collision course

PHOTO: AFP

VENTING THEIR ANGUISH: A supporter of the defeated Iranian presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, protesting in Tehran on Saturday.

TEHRAN: The lead challenger to President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir-Hossein Mousavi is now on a collision course with the Iranian establishment following release of the Presidential election results on Saturday.

As the counting began to show that Mr. Ahmadinejad was heading for a landslide victory, Mr. Mousavi struck a defiant note, claiming electoral fraud.

“I’m warning that I won’t surrender to this manipulation,” said a statement on Mousavi’s web site. “The outcome of what we’ve seen from the performance of officials...is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship.”

He stressed that “people won’t respect those who take power through fraud.”

“It is our duty to defend people’s votes. There is no turning back.”

The street outside the Interior Ministry, which announced the results, witnessed a string of clashes between Mr. Mousavi’s supporters and police.

Motor cycle-borne riot police broke up the crowds of demonstrators on several occasions. However, no violence was reported from Tehran University which was a scene of serious student unrest in 1999.

Earlier a senior official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that the establishment would not tolerate challenges from Mr. Mousavi’s “green” movement — a reference to the colour code adopted by the Mousavi camp during the campaign.

Elsewhere in Tehran, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s jubilant supporters drove through the streets waving Iranian flags. The core supporters belong to the less affluent parts south of Tehran city and the smaller cities and towns.

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