The supporters of Mir Hussein Mousavi, the main rival of re-elected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believe the election was stolen from them, writes MARY FITZGERALDin Tehran
AS NIGHT fell on Tehran yesterday, the Iranian capital felt like two cities instead of one. In some districts, the mood was jubilant, as tens of thousands of supporters of newly re-elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made their way home from a victory rally in central Tehran.
Most people waved Iranian flags or held aloft posters of a smiling Ahmadinejad, his triumphant address still ringing in their ears. Others punched the air and sang: “Eyval, eyval, Ahmadi [nejad], eyval’ (well done, well done, Ahmadinejad).
Ali Reza Mehrabani (18) had voted for the first time in Friday’s presidential election. “I love my president,” he said earnestly as those around him shouted Allahu Akbar – God is Most Great.
“He is brave and he stands up to the world for the sake of Iran.”
A short distance away, clouds of acrid black smoke rose from the northern reaches of Vali Asr, the venerable thoroughfare which forms the spine of Tehran, running from the Alborz mountains through the heart of the city towards its poorer southern hinterland.
Burning tyres and broken glass littered the ground, and overturned motorbikes and rubbish skips blazed by the side of the road. Dozens of riot police stood by, truncheons at the ready. Earlier they had chased protesters into side streets and alleyways.
Swarms of young bearded men in plain clothes – volunteers belonging to the basij, the regime’s religious militia – roamed on foot or on scooters, many brandishing crudely hacked wooden sticks.
The scene could not have been more different to the nights last week when thousands took to Vali Asr and surrounding streets to cheer Mir Hussein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s main challenger in what was one of the most bitterly contested presidential races Iran has ever witnessed.
But that was before an election that many of Mousavi’s supporters believe was stolen from them. The heady mood of last week has given way to despondency and anger amid allegations of vote-rigging that handed Ahmadinejad a three to one victory. A result Mousavi himself has denounced as a “dangerous charade”.
Yesterday many of those who had danced on Vali Asr last week shouting “Ahmadi bye bye” turned out to protest what one fresh-faced demonstrator told me was “the darkest day” Iran had seen in his lifetime.
As I drove with an Iranian friend up Vali Asr towards Vanak Square, where some of the most serious disturbances were reported to have taken place, our throats seized and our eyes began to water as tear gas fired by police seeped through the car windows.
Our driver swerved to avoid youths on motorbikes careering around as the tear gas hit them, and drove on until we were away from the fumes. As we rinsed our eyes by the side of the street, a thirtysomething Iranian who gave his name as Attila approached. He claimed to have seen police firing at protesters. “They are behaving like savages,” he said. “I tell you this situation will only get worse.” Earlier Ahmadinejad had rebuffed calls for a re-run of the ballot.
“They say the vote is disrupted, there has been a fraud. Where are the irregularities in the election?” he asked the adoring crowd gathered at Vali Asr Square for his victory speech. “Some people want democracy only for their own sake. Some want elections, freedom, a sound election. They recognize it only as long as the result favours them.”