Iranians demanding reform staged their biggest protest in months today, chanting slogans against powerful Muslim clerics they accuse of limiting freedoms and the reformist government for failing to rein them in.
Some 3,000 protesters, many of them heeding a call from US-based Iranian exile satellite channels, took part in the demonstration which began as a smaller, student protest against privatising universities.
The last big demonstration took place late last year, and the satellite channels' past appeals for protests had been largely ignored. Residents said the chants at the demonstration were the most extreme since unrest four years ago.
"Political prisoners must be freed," the crowd shouted in a square near Tehran University, the scene nearly four years ago of the biggest pro-reform unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Several motorcycles were torched and windows of some shops and a state bank were smashed as protesters dispersed. Uniformed and plainclothes police with batons broke up the protest without major clashes. A handful of people were arrested.
Many in Iran have lost faith in moderate President Mohammad Khatami and his lack of progress in reforming the 24-year-old Islamic Republic in the face of strong opposition from conservatives in powerful positions.
Analysts predicted more unrest in the run-up to the anniversary of the 1999 student riots early next month.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN on Sunday that Washington was working to persuade Iranians to force change from within to make Iran what he called a less troublesome member of the world community. Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi rejected the remarks.
"Powell should know U.S. interference would boost resolve and solidarity among Iranians," newspapers today quoted Mr Kharrazi as saying.
The United States, which cut ties with Tehran after the 1979 revolution, has branded Iran part of an "axis of evil".