Revolutionary Guard warns on Iran protest

By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards threatened on Monday to crush demonstrations, after opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to pursue their protests over a disputed presidential election.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) again reverberated around Tehran at nightfall, as Mousavi supporters took to the rooftops to chant their defiance of the authorities, a tactic used in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"In the current sensitive situation ... the Guards will firmly confront in a revolutionary way rioters and those who violate the law," said a statement on the Guards' website.

The statement by the Guards, viewed as the most loyal guardians of the ruling clerical establishment, clearly signalled a crackdown on any fresh unrest over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Riot police and members of the Basij religious militia were deployed in force in downtown Tehran, and witnesses said 1,000 Mousavi supporters had gathered in Haft-e Tir square, despite the Guard's warning.

From his balcony, one witness saw a group chanting slogans being attacked by the Basij, who dragged the protesters out of a nearby house to which they had fled.

"The Basiji were really aggressive and swearing at me to go inside," the witness said. "I was scared they were going to break into my house too."