Tear gas was fired into Lelah Park, they said, and a woman whose coat was covered in blood ran from Revolution Square, one of the main gathering spots during the initial weeks of protests over the June 12 election. She said that police officers were beating up protesters.

It was the first protest in 11 days, and was called to commemorate the 10th anniversary of violent confrontations at Tehran University when protesting students were beaten and jailed. Iranian authorities had announced earlier that the demonstration was illegal and would be met with a “crushing response”.

Hundreds of protesters began packing the streets of one area of Tehran, chanting, clapping and sitting in jammed traffic as drivers honked their horns, witnesses said. Families brought their children. Many held a hand in the air in the defiant V for victory. The security forces quickly moved in.

Reuters, citing witnesses, reported that the police used tear gas to disperse a group of about 250 protesters as they headed toward Tehran University, shouting support for a defeated presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi.

Iranian officials said on Wednesday that they had released 2,000 people who had been arrested for participating in the earlier demonstrations but that they were still holding 500 prisoners who would be put on trial, according to the state-run Press TV news service.

Morteza Tamaddon, Governor-General of Tehran, said there had been no request for a permit to hold Thursday’s rally.

Like other officials, he blamed outside interference by foreign broadcasters as a source of the unrest that tore through Iran after the disputed June 12 presidential election, provoking a sweeping official crackdown.

“The enemies of the Iranian nation are angry with the post-election calm in Iran and try to damage it through their TV channels,” he said, according to Press TV. Those who “follow the statements by the enemies’ TV” would receive a “crushing response” from the people, he said.

The warnings coincided with other steps to prevent protests, AP said. Cellphone messaging was down Thursday for a third straight day, apparently to prevent communication between protesters, while the Government closed universities and declared an official holiday on Tuesday and Wednesday, ostensibly because Tehran has been shrouded in a heavy dust and pollution cloud. Thursday’s demonstration came against a backdrop of rising anxiety and continued arrests.

NYT

G-8: DEADLINE SET FOR IRAN N-PLANS

L'AQUILA: The G-8 nations have given Iran until September to negotiate the dispute over its nuclear programme, but remain vague and divided over what consequences they might try to impose should Tehran continue to defy them.

After a long discussion on Wednesday night, President Obama and other G-8 powers called on Iran to compromise on its uranium enrichment programme, condemned its crackdown on the dissent after President Ahmadinejad’s re-election and repudiated the his statements denying the Holocaust. NYT