The Iranian authorities urged supporters out onto the streets of major cities Wednesday in a show of force against the opposition which it accuses of being "pawns of the enemies."
The Iranian authorities urged supporters out onto the streets of major cities Wednesday in a show of force against the opposition which it accuses of being "pawns of the enemies."

The massive rallies have been called for by the Islamic republic's clerics, armed forces and seminary schools in response to a string of opposition protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed June re-election.

Opposition Web sites reported that some state-owned factories have allocated transport for employees to be taken to the rallies, while traditional bazaars have closed for the day in some cities.

State television showed live footage Wednesday of gatherings in different cities excluding Tehran .

Hardliners have reacted angrily after thousands of opposition supporters used the climax Sunday of Ashura, one of Shiite Islam's holiest days, to take to the streets, condemning the protests as "desecration."

"The offensive slogans have made the pious Iranian nation sad and the Zionist world happy, and in practice they as pawns of the enemies have furnished a red carpet for the foreigners who are aiming at the nation's security," the government said in a statement.

"The knowledgeable people of Islamic Iran will once again put the lackeys of global oppression in their place and will blind the eyes of sedition," the statement added.

But the opposition have hit out at the authorities for resorting to the use of tear gas, batons and eventually live rounds to push back the protesters in violence that turned deadly.

Authorities confirmed eight people died during Sunday's protests but have rejected opposition charges that they were killed by security forces, insisting the deaths were "suspicious."

Iran rounded up scores of opposition figures and dissidents after Sunday's protests and Tuesday several reformist journalists and activists were also arrested, reports said.

Three hundred of the 500 "rioters" arrested by police at the weekend were still in detention, Iran 's police chief Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghaddam said Wednesday, adding that more were detained by other security agencies.

Wednesday the official IRNA news agency said that some lawmakers and leaders have emphasized that the "prosecution of the heads of the sedition has become a public demand."

Meanwhile, opposition Web site Rahesabz Wednesday reported that the authorities had ordered the family of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to hold a quiet funeral for his nephew who was killed during Sunday's protests.

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