Sea of green and black as fallen Iran campaigners mourned
New marches take place in Tehran mourning those who died in last week protesting Iranian presidential election
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By Matthew Champion. |  |
Thursday, 18, Jun 2009 11:38
By Matthew Champion.
Rallies have taken place in Tehran today mourning those who died in the last week protesting against the bitterly-disputed Iranian presidential election.
Protestors clad in green - the colour of Mir Hossein Mousavi - and black - the colour of mourning in Iran - took to the streets in what is was one of the largest demonstration since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Timeline: Iran election turmoil
Mr Mousavi, who wants the election results annulled, had called on his supporters to gather in mosques and hold peaceful demonstrations in memory of the eight people who died at a mass rally on Monday.
"In the course of the past days and as a consequence of illegal and violent encounters with [people protesting] against the outcome of the presidential election, a number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred," he wrote on his website.
"I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families ... by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations."
It is understood the eight deaths occurred when pro-government militia opened fire on peaceful protestors.
Two major marches took place in Tehran today with more than 100,000 people taking part, but reporting on the rallies by foreign media has been effectively banned by the country's authorities.
Yesterday marchers took to the streets in silence with tape covering their mouths in an attempt to emphasise the peaceful nature of the protests amid fears supporters of Mr Ahmadinejad have infiltrated them to start fights.
Official results announced on Saturday gave incumbent Mr Ahmadinejad 62.63 per cent of the vote, with Mr Mousavi awarded just 33.75 per cent.
The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given his blessing to the results and called on the protests to end but Mr Mousavi's supporters are demanding an entirely new election.
On Thursday, Iran's guardian council said it was investigating 646 complaints of electoral fraud and said it had invited the three defeated presidential candidates, Mr Mousavi among them, for talks on Saturday.